Phorm agrees to independent inspection of data pimping code
[Quote:]
Phorm has agreed to allow an independent software expert to inspect its source code as it continues to battle the firestorm provoked by agreements with BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse to let it build profiles of their broadband customers’ web browsing.
It seems a move by the battered firm to try to win some public trust.
As in, yep, they’re screwing over your privacy and selling you out to the highest bidder, but at least they do so with bug-free code? How would that make any difference?
Davies, a London School of Economics researcher best known as the founder of the pressure group Privacy International, has come under increasing criticism for his commercial role in the Phorm affair.
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The report is dated 10 February, and Davies has since praised the system. Defending himself against criticism on the influential UK-Crypto mailing list, he wrote: “For what it’s worth, we do believe the company [Phorm] has created some extremely interesting and privacy friendly technology. And in my view the company has gone above and beyond the norm to expunge personal data from its system.”
You know what my definition of “privacy friendly technology” is? Not collecting all that shit in the first place.
Like web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, 80/20 argues that Phorm would only be allowable on an opt-in basis. The logic goes that if the “service” is so great, why wouldn’t people choose to be part of it?
And, of course, the same logic can be used to reason that since Phorm has no intention to do that, they expect as much people to opt in to their system as they would expect to accept a free enema on the town square.
As one of the comments on the Register states, which part of “FUCK OFF” don’t they understand?