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EU Commision response about Phorm


The following EU Commission letter is a response to my email which directed them to this post regarding the Phorm system which may be trialled by the UK internet service provider BT. The letter basically says that it’s not their job to regulate the UK rather it’s the job of the “competent national authorities” to [...]

AVG causes fake traffic - Could spell big problems for Web Analytics


The Register in the UK reports that a new AVG function in its latest release mimicks a visitor so well that it’s very difficult to spot. The idea is that people with AVG’s LinkScanner employed goes through the first ten google results of a search and tries to spot malicious software applications. In order to [...]

BT shows bad phorm in its bid to improve behavioral ad targeting


In my previous post about this subject I went down the precarious route of agreeing with the UK Home Office and the ICO who can’t seem to be able to make up their mind whether Phorm is an illegal invasion of privacy or who should deal with it if it is. Initially they both seemed [...]

Is this bad phorm? Privacy concerns around BT


Recently I noticed a number of articles about Phorm some which condemn it some which simply report on the current debate around the idea and some which call for BT to be prosectuted. My opinion is that BT have made a monumental PR blunder (I mean the kind that can go down in history as [...]

Does an IP address identify the individual?


This article from associated press and this one from infotech discuss an argument in Brussels where MEP’s argued with Google that IP addresses could be personally identifiable information which of course leads to privacy concerns.
I personally have been able to identify individuals from an IP address when the IP has been company specific and the [...]