The London-based Privacy International (PI), a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations, has criticised the lack of legal action taken against BT and its secret 2006/2007 trials (without customer consent) of Phorm's Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) advertising system.

The Phorm system works with UK ISPs, such as BT via its WebWise service, to monitor what websites you visit for use in targeted advertising campaigns, though its methods have raised more than a few concerns about invasions of privacy.


The group continued on to warn that online behavioural targeting for commercial advertising using the technology of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) could be a dangerous and potentially unlawful technique. It has also hired the prominent anti-Phorm campaigner, Alexander Hanff (NoDPI), to take the lead for them on these issues.

PI concluded by recommending that organisations not be permitted to adopt opt-out solutions (where you're initially added to the system by default). It also called on governments to legislate in a way that protects the rights of the general public; explicit and informed consent should always be gained first (opt-in).