Is Phorm Legal?

A group argues that the online ad service might well be breaking UK laws.

It seems as if each passing day brings more controversy about the online ad service Phorm, which is being deployed in Britain. First came questions about userprivacy, then one of the ISPs taking it on made it an opt-in service.   Now a policy group, the Foundation for Information Policy Research (Fipr) has putforward the argument that Phorn is illegal under UK law.   Phorm’s system works by making note of the sites a user visits, trawling the sites and matching keywords against a user profileto create more highly targeted advertising. However the ads only come from sites that have signed up with Phorm.   So what makes it illegal? According to the BBC, in an open letter to theInformation Commissioner, Fipr argues that the technology contravenes the  Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Ripa), which is intended to protect users from the unlawful interceptionof information. Fipr also believes Phorm should have the consent of websites as well as users.   Fipr’s treasurer, Richard Clayton, said,   "The Phorm system is highly intrusive;it’s like the Post Office opening all my letters to see what I’m interested in, merely so that I can be sent a better class of junk mail. Not surprisingly, when you look closely, this activity turnsout to be illegal.”   Three ISPs – BT, Virgin and TalkTalk –have signed up for Phorm, but TalkTalk has made the service an opt-in for its customers.   Not surprisingly, Phorm says it doesn’t breach any laws.