UK threatened with legal action over Phorm

Phorm criticised by the EC again
Phorm criticised by the EC again

The European Commission is threatening the UK with legal action after its dalliances with Phorm's 'behavioural advertising technology'.

Although BT's recent trials of Phorm were deemed by the UK to be legal, the European Commission is none-too happy with the way the Government has put into practice EU rules on communications confidentiality.

In a statement, EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said about the Phorm trials: "Technologies like internet behavioural advertising can be useful for businesses and consumers but they must be used in a way that complies with EU rules.

"We have been following the Phorm case for some time and have concluded that there are problems in the way the UK has implemented parts of EU rules on the confidentiality of communications."

Confidentiality of communications

She continued: "I call on the UK authorities to change their national laws and ensure that national authorities are duly empowered and have proper sanctions at their disposal to enforce EU legislation on the confidentiality of communications.

"This should allow the UK to respond more vigorously to new challenges to ePrivacy and personal data protection such as those that have arisen from the Phorm case. It should also help reassure UK consumers about their privacy and data protection while surfing the internet."

The threatened legal action comes after the folks in Brussels sent a number of letters to the UK, regarding concerns about the Phorm trials.

Via BBC

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.