You’re absolutely right, and I believe the majority of UK Internet users are concerned privacy. However, the fact that we’re having this debate proves that the people in charge don’t see privacy as a priority issue, and if Digital Britain is installed in its planned form will remove what little privacy we have left.

If you put a website online, operations like Google scan only what you make publicly available. Phorm scans everything. Google can’t look at your private Facebook profile because it doesn’t use DPI. Phorm can’t even differentiate between what’s public and what’s private and just scans everything. DPI is *not* acceptable technology to use in any privacy conscientious society

Phorm uses Deep Packet Inspection to literally snoop on *ALL* user web traffic. It is totally unlike cookie-based behavioural targeting which can be more easily managed by deleting cookies.

Furthermore, as of yet, there is *NO* real opt-out; opt-ing out means you won’t be served targeted ads. Your web traffic is still snooped on.

There is absolutely no comparison between what Google and other websites are doing and what Phorm intend to do. Phorm’s method is far more invasive and pernicious.

Furthermore, it is illegal, according to several legal experts, such as Nicholas Bohm of the FIPR.

Phorm must be stopped. If you are concerned about electronic commerce in the EU, then it is imperative that Phorm’s plans are laid to waste. They jeopardise both the trust of users and the integrity of the internet.

“… given that the technology that enables this has been in place and used by very mainstream media publications in the UK and mainland Europe for years.”

That is simply not true. The data phorm use has been gathered by Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) equipment situated in the Internet Service Providers (ISP) network. If your ISP is a phorm partner then ALL your http data stream is intercepted and copied by the ISP, processed and passed to phorm. This business model is unique and completely different from existing BTA models.

This is about DPI snooping not BTA. The EU have recognized this.

In my opinion the EU action will actually very much help EU Internet Business, in that it will help ensure that their communications remain secure and are not intercepted.

http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/04/wikimedia-opting-out-of-phorm/

Ok many users may not have been aware of this tracking and have not given specific permission to be tracked. However, for years now this type of technology has been used by leading media companies to offer behaviour-relevant content to users: i.e. as you express your content preferences by clicking, you get served up more of what you like.

Serving more relevant ads is just the commercial use of this technology: in return for deploying expensive behavioural targetting software in their webs to offer you more content you like, sites can offer advertisers the possibility of placing campaigns more relevant to what a user is looking at. It’s the less attractive side to the same coin, but if you don’t want these ads, you can always block them using an ad blocker or just don’t click on them.

I agree that users should be more aware of this; however, if the EU goes out to take a unilateral swipe at one platform (Phorm) that happens to have come up on their radar in the UK, it will only harm the Internet industry in the EU, given that the technology that enables this has been in place and used by very mainstream media publications in the UK and mainland Europe for years.