The Information Commisssioner's Office (ICO) has said
major internet service providers (ISPs) wanting to use thePhorm targeted web
advertising systemmust first ask their
customers whether they want to be part of it,otherwise it will breach their
privacy.
BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media are reportedly planning
to
use the Phorm system across their customer bases to allow
advertisers to tailor their marketing and advertising
campaigns.
Phorm profiles the addresses and content of sites visited by web
users. It then
uses this information to match users against advertising campaigns
sent to their PCs.
The ICO says that if these ISPs don't ask their users whether
they want their web usage to be tracked, the
ISPs risk breaching the Data Protection Act.
Phorm as a company does not have access to the personal
identities of an ISPs' customers but instead links their web usage
to an individual identifier code.
If this system carried on, said the ICO, Phorm would not be
breaking the Data Protection Act.
The potential for ISPs to link the identifier code with the
identity of actual users means ISPs would have to ask their
customers first about applying the Phorm system to their web usage
traffic, said the ICO.
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