Shares in Phorm, the "deep packet inspection" company, were punished yet again over the weekend after the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced an investigation into its controversial behavioural tracking software. To the echo of resounding cheers on the part of privacy advacates, Phorm's already battered stock value crashed by a further 27 per cent. Martyn Warwick reports.
Phorm's "Webwise" software is a surveillance system tracks just where an individual goes on the Internet, maintains a record of sites visited and then serves-up advertising allegedly targeted at, and closely aligned to, the users' "interests". To identify such "interests" Webwise leeches on an individual's web history, sucks thr blood out of it and passesdetails of that "behavioural activity" on to advertisers. In other words it spies on people.
Now though, the OFT says it is to examine the use of personal data in website advertising and behavioural tracking" systems.
In a statement the government watchdog says, "We will look at behavioural advertising where information on a consumer's online activity is used to target the Internet advertising they see. We will also a examine the practice of tailoring prices to individual consumers on the basis of their personal data."
It is well known that many advertisers would love to have a system of access to masses of personal data on consumers so that they could charge more for goods and services to some individuals than they would to others. In other words these rip-off merchants want a method and a charter to legitimise their profiteering.
» This story continues on page 2. Please click here to read
please sign in to rate this article
45395