Call to prosecute BT for ad trial

[Fop 1]

BT conducted two "small scale" trials of the Phorm system

 

BT should face prosecution for its "illegal" trials of a controversial ad-serving technology, a leading computer security researcher has said.

 

Dr Richard Clayton at the University of Cambridge made his comments after reviewing a leaked BT internal report.

 

The document reveals details of a 2006 BT trial with the Phorm system, which matches adverts to users' web habits.

 

"It's against the law of the land, we must now expect to see a prosecution," he told BBC News.

 

But BT plans to push ahead with a further trial of the technology later this summer, the BBC has learnt.

 

"We have not announced a date yet; we are still planning - it will be quite soon," a spokesperson told BBC News.

 

Revelations about earlier trials have prompted some customers to organise protests in London to coincide with BT's AGM on 16 July.

 

'Small test'

 

The company did not inform customers that they were part of the original tests in 2006 and 2007, although 30,000 subscribers were involved.

 

Nearly 19m web pages were intercepted during the 2006 tests, according to the leaked report, posted to the whistle-blowing website wikileaks.

 

 

This isn't how we expect ISPs to treat their customers' private communications

Dr Richard Clayton

 

'Illegal' ad system scrutinised

 

BT described it as "a small scale technical test".

 

During the trials adverts were stripped out of web pages served up to BT customers and replaced with more targeted ads, if available.

 

If none were available, adverts for one of three charities were inserted.

 

The report also reveals that BT believes that a large scale deployment of Phorm would be "operationally challenging".

 

It projected that it would require as many as 300 servers to roll out for all BT customers and added that BT was "unable to find hosting accommodation that will enable a deployment of this model".

 

However, the BBC now understands that the technology behind Phorm has been updated and large scale trials are much more feasible.

 

'Illegal trial'

 

Dr Clayton said the leaked report "clearly shows that back in 2006 BT illegally intercepted their customers' web traffic, and illegally processed their personal data."

 

He continued: "The BT author seems delighted that only 15-20 people noticed this was happening and looks forward to a new system that will be completely invisible.

 

"This isn't how we expect ISPs to treat their customers' private communications and since, not surprisingly, it's against the law of the land, we must now expect to see a prosecution."

 

He said that the BT report also noted that "communications regarding advertisement systems and information collection could lead to negative perception if not carefully handled".

 

"They seem to have failed in this aspect as well," he said.

 

A BT spokesman said: "The trial was completely anonymous and no personal information was stored or processed.

 

"BT sought expert legal advice before commencing the trial."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7438578.stm

 

 

 

A smaller company or individual doing what BT did almost certainly would face criminal charges, but who wants to bet they won't.

 

Phorm being about the biggest threat to the internet since record companies got wind of it.

Edited June 6, 2008 by Fop

[Park Life 71]

Needs a fine of mind bending proportions. I'd say £20m as a baseline and customer compensation where it can be seen their data was manipulated.

[Holden McGroin 6958]

Needs a fine of mind bending proportions. I'd say £20m as a baseline and customer compensation where it can be seen their data was manipulated.

 

You're not a BT customer are you by any chance?

[Guest alex]

No, he just works at one of their call centres.

[GeordieMessiah 2]

Would this nefarious activity by BT go some way to explaining why my email inbox gets inundated by filthy porn-related spam?

 

[trophyshy 7099]

Would this nefarious activity by BT go some way to explaining why my email inbox gets inundated by filthy porn-related spam?

 

 

Vampire Porn?

[ewerk 31600]

Phorm shares fall as BT opts out

 

 

Shares in the online ad firm Phorm have fallen by a third after BT said it had no immediate plans to use the service that tracks online behaviour.

 

Phorm serves up adverts related to a user's web browsing history, which it monitors by taking a copy of the places they go and search terms they look for.

 

However, it came in for considerable criticism from privacy groups and prompted an EU investigation.

 

The firm's shares were down 34.74% at 315p at 11:40 BST.

 

Phorm builds a profile of users by scanning for keywords on websites visited and then assigns relevant ads.

 

It has proved controversial because it scans almost all sites a user visits and there is an ongoing political debate about how a user gives consent.

 

Phorm had conducted trials of its technology with BT, which it marketed as Webwise.

 

A spokesman for British Telecom, Mike Jarvis, told the BBC that they were not completely closing the door on Phorm's Webwise service.

 

"We're interested in this area [targeted online advertising] but for now we have no immediate plans.

 

"It's more a case that we have other stuff to work on - Project Canvas, rolling out the fibre network and so forth - so we've taken a step out of Phorm and will see how it develops.

 

"[Our decision has] nothing to do with cost or privacy, it's about resources and priority," he added.

 

In April, Amazon blocked Phorm from scanning its web pages to produce targeted advertising, as has the UK government, citing privacy concerns.

 

Phorm declined an interview request, instead issuing a statement saying its activities "remain ongoing" and that it was looking forward " to creating the conditions necessary for UK ISPs to move to deployment".

 

"We continue to focus considerable effort on faster moving overseas opportunities," the statement read.

 

"In so doing we have already minimised our dependency on the deployment by any single ISP or in any particular market.

 

"In addition to making excellent progress in South Korea, we are engaged in more than 15 markets worldwide including advanced negotiations with several major ISPs."

[ChezGiven 0]

I like ads, ads are good for business, which is good for income, which is good for taxes, which is good for education, health and social security.

 

Its the way the world works.

[Fop 1]

I like ads, ads are good for business, which is good for income, which is good for taxes, which is good for education, health and social security.

 

Its the way the world works.

 

 

You'd like Phorm, but unfortunately the problem with Phorm is not the adds (although Fop is sure you're have no problem with the issues behind Phorm either as the mullah would be blinding you, of course you'd like Soylent Green if you thought you could turn a decent profit margin ).

 

 

 

Out of interest though, do you agree with BT that it's "ok" to do illegal things just to see if they might work and be profitable?

[ChezGiven 0]

Nah, Phorm sounds horrendous and illegal as you say, was just being pejorative.

 

I do think the internet is (obviously) the new economic frontier and we should encourage a system that facilitates trade and rewards innovation. I've just downloaded some opensource software for my mac, which was obviously free. Its that good, i would have happily paid for it. Which would mean they could spend more time innovating the next release. Its a balance of course but there was a naive generation of developers who grew up in the 90s thinking that money grew on trees.

[Lazarus 0]

BT have abandoned the phorm trials.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8135850.stm

Edited July 7, 2009 by Lazarus

[Fop 1]

Talktalk too:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8140368.stm