Bad Phorm

[santa claus]

All Government Organisations and representatives (with the notable exception of the honourable ladies and gentlemen of the House of Lords) appear unable or unwilling to take this issue by the scruff of the neck. The Information Commission in particular has appeared totally toothless even allowing time for them to get up to speed with a new technology.

When BT next run a trial, which this time cannot be covert (the watchers are being watched), I suspect the issues will reach Court for a decision.

The judiciary will decide if BT can monitor and profile its customers without their explicit consent.

[Agent]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7545766.stm

In one question she asked if the government has issued advice to net service firms about getting consent for web-watching ad systems or what needs to be done to let people know their web habits could be monitored.

In response the government said it was up to net firms to decide if a service they provide was within the law.

I'm just lost for words.
Yup - Its not up to the government. Its not up to the Home Office. Its not up to the police. Its up to the ISPs.
So the ones that may be breaking the law have been told that its up to them to decide if they are breaking it.

[Emirzan]

Wow, that's truly awful. That makes our ISP's as powerful as policy makers, great. It's pretty much the same as asking a criminal in court if they thought the actions that caused them to be arrested were illegal and letting them sentence themselves. Highly logical.

We're being governed by morons.

[santa claus]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7545766.stm



I'm just lost for words.
Yup - Its not up to the government. Its not up to the Home Office. Its not up to the police. Its up to the ISPs.
So the ones that may be breaking the law have been told that its up to them to decide if they are breaking it.

I'm hoping that there's a veiled threat in the Government statement Agent i.e. there are laws, the ISP's need to consider them carefully in case they break them (or there is a penalty to pay).

I may just be the eternal optimist. Government Orgs haven't exactly covered themselves in glory up to now Baroness Miller however, rules!

Good to see you Emirzan and to know that another person now knows what is going on.

[Agent]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7641754.stm

[santa claus]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7641754.stm

[MadduckUK]

they need a good shoeing. there obviously just going to keep going with it until someone forces them to stop

[Agent]

"New, Free Online Protection"

Well, when you put it like that...sign me up

[Lucio]

"New, Free Online Protection"

Well, when you put it like that...sign me up

Unfortunately that's exactly what will happen, they'll be a big marketting push to get their information out, and almost no news coverage of the downsides. Unless someone can actually get the news story onto the 6 o'clock news and into papers like The Sun or the Daily Mail, then Phorm has won their evil little game.

Right now, we need someone with money to care about this issue, because it's pretty damned transparent that the government doesn't care because they're thinking of how they can also use the system to spy on people better.

[Agent]

Yup. Saw this a mile away

But there is a difference between implementing something like Phorm and telling people that their ISP uses them, compared to them understanding what the risks are.
I highly doubt that Phorm will be shouting what the potential downsides are, will they? Its going to be along the lines of "Phorm improves your browsing experience by showing you better targeted adverts"

Still want to stand by this Koolpc?

Still can't see it happening.

[Hicks12]

As well as serving up targeted adverts, BT said the Webwise system would also help to tackle fraud by warning people when they are about to visit a page that has been flagged as dangerous.

Well if its going to keep my bank details etc secure by sending it to countries that are not bound by our laws then it must be safe. Who wants to send this to BBC? asking them to put on the news for all to know? bet BT will fail then if the public know its getting send to russia and owned by a spyware company. If you need money ask Bill Gates, microsoft have been trying so hard to increase security and ISP have just spat at them(if they accept phorm).

[Zadock]

Sickening... an "opt in" trial, what will they do when the trial stops? roll this out so all BT customers use it whether they like it or not? If it remains an option then who in their right mind is likely to say "ooh yes! spam me up with ads please"?

Glad I'm not with BT.

[Lee H]

There is one simple solution.

Get off your arses and hit them where it hurts - Request a MAC code and migrate to 1 of the many ISP's out there that is not going to implement this technology as there are loads.

There is only 1 way that companies will notice that this is an unwelcomed technology and this is when their profits start to drop and drop to the point of no return.

Spread the word, get your aunts, grans, friends etc off BT and onto other ISP's which are not implenting this spyware no matter what they badge or name it as.

[TheAnimus]

There is one simple solution.

Get off your arses and hit them where it hurts - Request a MAC code and migrate to 1 of the many ISP's out there that is not going to implement this technology as there are loads.

There is only 1 way that companies will notice that this is an unwelcomed technology and this is when their profits start to drop and drop to the point of no return.

Spread the word, get your aunts, grans, friends etc off BT and onto other ISP's which are not implenting this spyware no matter what they badge or name it as.

Woo Someone else who 'gets it'

[Lucio]

Did that ages ago, and saved money to boot. Even took the line rental away

[santa claus]

The European Commission, The House of Lords, The UK Government, The City of London Police, The Information Commissioner, Members of Parliament, Elvis and The Black Diamonds Wrestling Tag Team cannot stop Phorm or do not want to stop Phorm.

It is now in the hands of the British public. Time to haul ass or forever be owned. It's that simple.