Thank you for your email of 1st October regarding the digital technology company, Phorm. I understand your concern that several of the United Kingdom’s largest internet providers have made agreements with Phorm, as this will allow the company to monitor customers’ online behaviour in order to replace generic adverts on participating websites with targeted advertising. One of the main contentions is, as you point out, surrounding the issue of consent.
Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for culture, media and sport, recently wrote to the Chairman of BT asking him to account for the company's secret piloting of the Phorm project last summer. BT has now said that its trial was a purely technical one and that no personal information was processed, stored or disclosed. He also tabled a Parliamentary Early Day Motion in April calling for Phorm to be made an ‘opt-in’ service, which would be more transparent.
EU regulation states that subscribers must be given full explanation about how information relating to their online activities will be used before they themselves consent to it being utilised by third parties. The UK Information Commissioner (ICO) has clarified this to an extent, ruling that internet users must opt-in to Phorm services, rather than opt-out. This is encouraging - especially as far as less experienced internet users are concerned. For more information on the ICO’s position on Phorm, please visit it’s website at:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/news_and_views/current_topics/phorm_webwise_and_oie.aspx.
However, there are still many questions surrounding exactly how this opt-in system will work in practice. At a public hearing in January the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee came to general agreement that IP addresses constitute personal data, and, as such, any threat to their security must be treated with the utmost seriousness. My colleague, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP tabled a European Parliamentary question on this which can be found at: www.europarl.europa.eu
Thank you again for your letter on this important matter. I hope have assured you that the Liberal Democrats are taking action on the issues that Phorm presents on both a UK and European level.
(thought it was well worth posting, l explained my concerns when the EU met and talked about the whole centralised database thing as l felt this was connected in some way)
Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for culture, media and sport, recently wrote to the Chairman of BT asking him to account for the company's secret piloting of the Phorm project last summer. BT has now said that its trial was a purely technical one and that no personal information was processed, stored or disclosed. He also tabled a Parliamentary Early Day Motion in April calling for Phorm to be made an ‘opt-in’ service, which would be more transparent.
EU regulation states that subscribers must be given full explanation about how information relating to their online activities will be used before they themselves consent to it being utilised by third parties. The UK Information Commissioner (ICO) has clarified this to an extent, ruling that internet users must opt-in to Phorm services, rather than opt-out. This is encouraging - especially as far as less experienced internet users are concerned. For more information on the ICO’s position on Phorm, please visit it’s website at:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/news_and_views/current_topics/phorm_webwise_and_oie.aspx.
However, there are still many questions surrounding exactly how this opt-in system will work in practice. At a public hearing in January the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee came to general agreement that IP addresses constitute personal data, and, as such, any threat to their security must be treated with the utmost seriousness. My colleague, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP tabled a European Parliamentary question on this which can be found at: www.europarl.europa.eu
Thank you again for your letter on this important matter. I hope have assured you that the Liberal Democrats are taking action on the issues that Phorm presents on both a UK and European level.
(thought it was well worth posting, l explained my concerns when the EU met and talked about the whole centralised database thing as l felt this was connected in some way)























