Tim Berners-Lee criticises Net ‘tracking’
p2pnet news | Advertising:- Plans by ISPs to use Phorm, a company with “roots in the murky world of spyware,” as The Register summed it up, and which these days tracks people online to create ‘personalised’ adverts, have been sharply criticised by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (right), the man who invented the World Wide Web.
“I want to know if I look up a whole lot of books about some form of cancer that that’s not going to get to my insurance company and I’m going to find my insurance premium is going to go up by 5% because they’ve figured I’m looking at those books,” the BBC has him saying.
His data and web history belong to him, he states.
“It’s mine – you can’t have it. If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me. I have to agree, I have to understand what I’m getting in return.”
Phorm is trotting out the transparently false claim, also often used by Google, Facebook, MySpace and others, to whom the same argument applies, that offering “personalised” advertisements by tracking users would improve their online experiences.
BT PLC, TalkTalk and Virgin Media are among that companies which have bought into Phorm’s Open Internet Exchange (OIX) ’service’ it says, also touting OIX as offering “additional protection against malicious websites”.
Publishers and advertising agencies have “partnered with Phorm for the launch of OIX” include; FT.com; iVillage; Universal McCann; MGM OMD and Unanimis, it boasts.
Says the BBC:
“The advertising system created by Phorm highlights a growing trend for online advertising tools – using personal data and web habits to target advertising.
“Social network Facebook was widely criticised when it attempted to introduce an ad system, called Beacon, which leveraged people’s habits on and off the site in order to provide personal ads.
“The company was forced to give customers a universal opt out after negative coverage in the media.
But, “I myself feel that it is very important that my ISP supplies internet to my house like the water company supplies water to my house,” it has Berners-Lee stating, adding:
“It supplies connectivity with no strings attached. My ISP doesn’t control which websites I go to, it doesn’t monitor which websites I go to.”
===========
UPDATES:-
Click here for Phather of Phorm challenges Berners-Lee
Click here for Phorm Pharce – FIPR open letter
[NOTE - p2pnet is running a special reader's survey. It only takes 20-30 seconds and it'd be a huge help if you'd fill it in. Please click here. Cheers! And thanks ... Jon]
Also See:
Phorm – UK ISPs’ Phorm hook-up raises privacy concerns, February 26, 2008
The Register – ISP data deal with former ’spyware’ boss triggers privacy fears, February 25, 2008
BBC – Web creator rejects net tracking, March 17, 2008
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe
to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.phpNet access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Hi all
As the name suggests I work for the Phorm Comms Team. In response to Tim’s comments and the raft of commentary that has followed, we also believe that it is wrong to store Internet users’ personal data. Our technology is a real turning point in the protection of privacy online – it does not store personally identifiable information, does not store IP addresss and nor does it store browsing histories. By contrast, ad targeting from other major Internet companies means that potentially identifiable personal data is stored for over 12 months before it is even anonymised. Also, because these companies reach nearly all UK Internet users, consumers effectively have no real choice about being targeted in this way. With the Phorm technology, users can choose – they can opt out or in at any time; and again, no personal data is stored . We look forward to speaking to Tim Berners Lee to explain how our technology is a ground breaking advance in delivering targeted ads while protecting privacy online and consumer choice, as we have with other experts.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
This is request, would Jon we will to ban activity from phorm (SPYCOMS). As mention in this letter if Jon ban Phorm from this site then phorm would be breach of Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
http://www.fipr.org/080317icoletter.html
March 19th, 2008 at 12:25 am
hey i do agree with tim berener.. i had read the related article on http://www.watblog.com/2008/03/18/father-of-internet-preaches-against-online-public-sharing/ which also states that tim barner is appealing to people not share their personal info in online space..