EU to challenge advertising through ISP

[billgoldberg]

http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2223399/eu-challenges-uk-phorm


The Phorm system tracks users' web habits and puts them into categories so that advertising can be targeted more effectively.

Phorm insists its technology enhances privacy because information is anonymised.

I'm wondering if any actually thinks this is a good idea.

The only thing I (and I presume 99% of the world) want is to browse the web fast and anonymous.

Is that so much to ask?

[Erdaron]

Ars has also been tracking the story of NebuAd (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080724-06-opt-out-nebuad-hides-link-in-5000-word-privacy-policy.html), a similar device on American shores.

I wonder if this will encourage people to pay for traffic-encryption services, such as Comodo's TrustConnect (http://www.comodo.com/trustconnect/faq.html) or IronKey. I wonder what kind of ads 256-bit AES gets you.

[lisati]

How can they use whatever stats they collect if they're anonymised? It sounds almost as if they're using the stats for something more than choosing content for the user's homepage.

[Erdaron]

How can they use whatever stats they collect if they're anonymised? It sounds almost as if they're using the stats for something more than choosing content for the user's homepage.

For example, an ISP can have a secret IP/userid translation table. Advertisers only see the userid, which itself, at least technically, is not identifiable information. So they can tell the advertiser, user A-17 keeps visiting car websites. The advertiser issues ads for A-17, gives them to ISP, who then forwards them to the appropriate IP address.

I still think this is dodgy. A pattern of traffic can also be identifiable. Not to mention the practices associated with such technologies (at least as described by Ars).