Britain must provide an explanation to the European Union on
whether
Phorm, the controversial online advertising system that
monitors web traffic, complies with data protection
legislation.
The UK government has until the end of the month to respond to a
letter from
Viviane Reding, the EU's commissioner for information society
and media, seeking clarification.
The contents of the letter, sent in mid-July, have not been
disclosed.
The
controversy centres on a system from
Phorm, a digital technology
company, that tracks users' web-browsing behaviour in order to
target ads at them.
TalkTalk and Virgin Media have signed up to use the system. BT
is due to begin a wide-scale trial of the service soon, having
already conducted secret trials without seeking customers'
consent.
Critics called for BT to be prosecuted for breaking the Data
Protection Act, but the information commissioner ruled in May that
no action would be taken. However, anyone using Phorm since then
has had to ask for users' consent.
Phorm insists its web-tracking systems comply with the law.