British web users concerned about Internet Service Providers having access to their personal information have been dealt another blow: The City of London Police have announced that there will be no formal investigation of British Telecom over an incident where the telecom collected its users' personal data without their consent.
Angry BT customers gave the police information about BT after the company's annual shareholder meeting in July, butthe police found no criminal act had been committed.
"They said that there was no criminal intent on behalf of BT and that there was implied consent because the service was going to benefit customers,"said Alex Hanff, a campaigner against Phorm.
Last year BT took part in a trial by Phorm, an ad serving platform that tracks consumer web surfing habits through ISPs, a practice called "deep packet inspection" that has been mired in privacy violation accusations. While many websites offer advertisers highly targeted audiences based on the data that users volunteer on their sites, Internet Service Providers have automatic access to user data whether it is volunteered or not — a fact that makes many web surfers uncomfortable.
American firm NebuAd, which is currently being scrutinized by a Congressional investigation, has essentially pulled out of the deep packet business — it has stopped working with all American telecoms. But over in England,
Phorm's practices were recently deemed legal as long as users are informed of the process and given an option to refuse it going forward.
The decision by the London police to not investigate has been slammed by the Foundation for Information Policy Research, but Hanff says that this investigation was just one step in the plans to halt BT and Phorm's methods of garnering data:
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