NEWS: Phorm in a teacup

Britain has 2 months to prove that UK laws on information gathering on web users 'protects customers personal data, or face legal action' from the EU.

The Government has backed the covert testing of secret advertising trials using software from  'Phorm' an Aim-listed company, which gathers information from web users in order to actively target them with advertising that is specific to their interests. Phorm actions were exempted from privacy laws, meaning the UK has failed to implement the EU laws which would give authorities the power to act on Phorm's alleged breaches of user privacy.

Sending marketing or advertising material without an individual's 'prior consent' is banned under a 2002 EU computer privacy directive, which the Government signed up to.

Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, said: "Do you want to turn the internet into a jungle? This could happen if we cannot control the use of our information online," she said. "There is an undeniable risk that privacy is being lost to the brave new world of intrusive technologies."

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist generally credited with inventing the web, said recently that the technology threatened 'the integrity of the internet as a communications medium'.

The Commission said that it decided to take action in the case after receiving complaints from UK consumers and officials over the government's handling of Phorm. The EU said that the UK has had since July 2008 to explain its position.