BT Escapes ‘Phorm’ Police Investigation
The City Of London Police has decided not to investigate BT’s trial of the controversial ‘Phorm’ advertising monitoring system on unsuspecting users last summer. BT secretly trialled Phorm without telling thousands of users that their Web browsing habits were being monitored, resulting in angry users taking action and filing a dossier of evidence with the police in July. Alex Hanff, the anti-Phorm campaigner who compiled the dossier, received an email from City of London Police saying: “The matter will not be investigated by the City of London Police as it has been decided that no Criminal Offence has been committed. One of the main reasons for this decision is the lack of Criminal Intent on behalf of BT and Phorm Inc in relation to the tests. It is also believed that there would have been a level of implied consent from BT’s customers in relation to the tests, as the aim was to enhance their products.”Nicholas Bohm, lead counsel at legal think tank, the Foundation for Information Policy Research countered: “City of London Police’s response expresses massive disinterest in what occurred. Saying that BT customers gave implied consent is absurd. There was never any behaviour by BT customers that could be interpreted as implied consent because they were deliberately kept in the dark.” BT had no official comment. It seems somewhat coincidental that the police have decided not to investigate BT’s Phorm antics just weeks after the government gave Phorm the thumbs-up for a UK roll-out.-Martin Lynch [Register] broadband advertising BT
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Original post by nafiz