[LINK] Phorm's advertising system

[Roger Clarke]

[I suspect that the AAP journo didn't understand what Phorm was, so 
left it out of the story]

Berners-Lee: ISPs must not track customers
AAP
18 March 2008 09:14 AM
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Berners-Lee-ISPs-must-not-track-customers/0,139023166,339286912,00.htm

The man dubbed the "father of the Web" says consumers need to be 
protected against systems that can track their activity on the 
Internet.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, said he would 
change his Internet provider if it introduced such a system.

In an interview with the BBC, Berners-Lee said he did not want his 
ISP to track which Web sites he visited.

"I want to know if I look up a whole lot of books about some form of 
cancer that that's not going to get to my insurance company and I'm 
going to find my insurance premium is going to go up by five percent 
because they've figured I'm looking at those books," he said.

His remarks come after the social networking Web site Facebook was 
widely criticised after it introduced a system called Beacon, which 
sends data from external Web sites to Facebook.

The company changed the way Beacon operated after an uproar from 
customers over privacy so that users now have to opt in to it.

Berners-Lee also told the BBC that the spread of social networks such 
as Facebook and MySpace was a good example of increasing involvement 
in the Web.

But he warned young people about putting personal data on these sites.

He said: "Imagine that everything you are typing is being read by the 
person you are applying to for your first job.

"Imagine that it's all going to be seen by your parents and your 
grandparents and your grandchildren as well."

His remarks were made on a short visit to the UK from his base at the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States to 
promote a new effort to study the Web and its future.


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW