UK investigators have announced their intent to investigate ISP British Telecom (BT) over the contents of a leaked internal memo that surfaced last June. According to the memo, BT data-mined the web browsing activity of some 18,000 users during a two week period in September/October 2006, and they did so without informing the users. Whether this was illegal under UK law has been a point of contention between privacy advocates and BT; the results of the UK's investigation should settle the matter.
BT was able to mine the data through the use of an online dynamic antiphishing web package known as Webwise. According to the program's website, Webwise offers "a new security feature designed to dynamically warn customers if they visit a fraudulent 'phishing' site. When a user clicks on a link for a known phishing site, Webwise will detect it and automatically show the user a strong warning notice within their internet browser before they reach the fraudulent site." The technical details of just how BT got its data aren't given; presumably it was mined whenever the Webwise service was queried about the safety of a particular site.
Webwise is owned by the UK-based advertising company Phorm, which has suffered its share of negative publicity and government scrutiny in recent months. There are strong parallels between the services Phorm offers and the kinds of marketing strategies and advertising the disgraced NebuAd corporation once sold. If the UK's investigation deems that BT did indeed break the law, the writing may be on the wall for Phorm as well; the company is already under the watchful eye of EU regulators.
BT has pushed ahead with a second, public trial of Webwise in September, and is currently attempting to solicit the willing participation of 10,000 users. As hard as it may be to believe, there seems to be some indication that consumers are neither interested in having their data mined nor eager to watch ads specifically tailored to their buying preferences.
Regardless of whether BT actually broke the law, the company has hurt itself by sneaking around behind its users' backs. Because of BT's shortsightedness, the company's effort to evaluate the viability of targeted advertising has been been branded by critics as nothing more than covert theft.
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