Score one for Brussels

[Rik]

The Times reports that:

The European Commission has today started legal action against the Government over its failure to protect the privacy of British internet users.

The case was sparked by BT's covert use of the controversial user-tracking technology Phorm on customers using its internet service in 2006 and 2007.

Phorm, a UK-based company founded in 2004, monitors users' favourite sites and searches, and uses the information to deliver individually targeted advertising.

One of its most outspoken opponents is Sir Tim Berners-Lee, generally credited with inventing the web.

The European Commission has been concerned about the way Phorm was secretly tested in the United Kingdom. Last year, the Government backed Phorm after a complaint by Brussels.

But today Viviane Reding, the European Union's Commissioner for Information Society and Media, announced the first stage of legal action, saying that the Government had failed to implement European laws that protect internet users.

"Technologies such as internet behavioural advertising can be useful for businesses and consumers but they must be used in a way that complies with EU rules," the Commissioner said. "These rules are there to protect the privacy of citizens and must be rigorously enforced by all member states."

This could be interesting.

[Tacitus]

Good on the EU, but I wonder if they'll take any action over this.  Has anyone heard of PinchMedia?   Even if you own an iPhone (there I've said it) you probably haven't.

So, purely in the interests of spreading paranoia, have a look at this.  Now if you think that Phorm and Google are state of the art for knowing what you are up to, PinchMedia and the applications which use it are a whole new ball game.

Imagine an app that knows who you are via your mobile phone's UUID, can tell exactly when you used the app and, by means of the iPhone's geo-location facility exactly where you were when you used it.

Back to messages in a cleft stick, which is what investigative journalists (and, for that matter, terrorists) are probably doing as this piece by Charles Arthur suggests.

No escape is there?

[Rik]

Thought provoking. We've known freedom is a fallacy for some time, but that really spells it out.

[drummer]

Great post, however this:

...Back to messages in a cleft stick...

deserves a karma for a reminding that I really ought to re-read Scoop.