FIPR claims Phorm technology breaches UK law

The Foundation for Information Policy Research (Fipr) has issued an open letter to the Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, claiming that Phorm’s ad serving technology is illegal in the UK.

Phorm’s technology uses anonymised ISP data to target online advertising according to a consumer’s interests, as indicated by their web browsing habits.

The technology is used by major UK companies, including BT, Talk Talk and Virgin have all signed up to use Phorm.

Fipr believes that Phorm contravenes the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, which protects users from unlawful interception of information, while Phorm and BT argue that the technology does not contravene any such laws.

Fipr believes that Phorm should seek the consent of both website users and operators. Its system trawls websites that have signed up to Phorm’s technology, and matches keywords from the content of the page to a profile.

According to Nicholas Bohm, general counsel at Fipr, both parties must consent to interception in order for it to be lawful, according to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

He says that Phorm’s system is like the Post Office opening letters to see what the recipient is interested in, and then targeting them with relevant junk mail.

Phorm believes that if a website is published openly and fairly, it is not breaching any laws in using information that is published on it. The system would not be applied to websites which discouraged web crawling from search engines.

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