BT’s secret Phorm trials open door to corporate eavesdropping
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The government has refused to investigate BT’s covert wiretapping of thousands of its customers in 2006 and 2007, despite its own expert’s view that without consent Phorm’s advertising targeting technology is a breach of criminal law.
Whitehall’s willingness to turn a blind eye to the fact that tens of thousands of people were spied on by big business in order to serve up targeted marketing has angered web users. “I’m absolutely sickened and appalled,” Pete John, who has tried to interest authorities, told The Register this week.
BT customers who have attempted to report the secret listening and profiling experiments to the police have been told to approach the Home Office. One was subsequently told over email by an official: “It is important to remember that private companies such as ISPs are allowed to do certain things under section 3 of [the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act] that Law Enforcement Agencies cannot do without permission.”
All Hallow the Corporation!