English Yokel

Another privacy down the drain

And so, without showing any sign of understanding the issues, the Independent announces the imminent trial of Phorm targetted advertising by BT Retail.

The privacy issues are so large that surely they cannot be glossed over, unless there is an underlying cause that has not yet surfaced. Something like Security Service involvement, perhaps.

Basically, every BT Retail ISP subscriber will be offered "Webwise" as some free protection against web nasties. It really offers nothing more than proper browsers such as Firefox or Opera already give. The subscriber then pays for the "free" protection by having every single one of his web pages not just recorded (as required shortly by EU/UK government regulation), but INSPECTED as to content, so that Phorm can then serve targetted adverts. The technique it uses is called Deep Packet Inspection (DPI for short). The technique is not universally admired! Companies such as Ellacoya market data routing equipment designed for the job, but tell us very little about how it works.

Privacy? Out of the window. Phorm will know each BT subscriber by number, and enough about what they get up to on the web to justify the expense of putting their equipment into every BT datacentre to perform the interception. Phorm will read every page, including online webmail, bank statements, and anything else transmitted on port 80 (web page traffic mostly). The scheme may be extended to other internet traffic (eg FTP, VoIP, Instant Messaging, etc) at a later date.

The government seems to want to let this slip in, and so has refused so far to consider prosecution for illegal interception under RIPA (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act).

Actions:

• Read up about it (reading list below, or just use "phorm" as a search term)
• If they are your ISP, leave BT Retail for an alternative ISP (links to lists below)
• Protest at the BT AGM on 16 July 2008 (see No DPI for more details)

Reading List:

• The Register
• BadPhorm Blog
• Open Rights Group
• Open Rights Group meet Phorm
• The Guardian
• The New York Times
• Do Not Trust Webwise
• Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge - Roundup
• Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge - Stealing Phorm Cookies
• Ars Technica
• No DPI
• Anti Phorm League - has some further links not noted here
• Techdirt
• The Guardian - Technology Blog - about the PREVIOUS secret trials
• GigaOM
• Dephormation
• Deny Phorm
• PC Advisor also tell of the new trial, but sit on the fence about the consequences.

Lists of Phorm free ISPs can be found at:

• Phormwatch
• BadPhorm

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