EU to take UK Government to court over internet privacy

Any anti virus/spyware scan I carry out usually picks up a good number of these little pieces of software, which are used by companies to follow users' surfing habits.

This isn't being done, in the main, for nefarious purposes, ie to defraud people, but to gain information which informs web and advertising policies.

The question is, should anyone have the right to download programmes onto your hard drive without permission, to effectively monitor what you're up to?

Large companies say that all anonymity is preserved, and that they just want to give people a 'better online experience' which mainly means targeted advertising which focuses on what people are interested in.

The UK's government doesn't seem really all that fussed about taking a strong line over this, but now it is being threatened with EU legal action unless it tightens UK internet privacy laws.

The European Commission has conducted an inquiry into UK consumer complaints about the use of "behavioural advertising technology" used by internet service providers.

The technology, known as "Phorm", constantly analyses web surfers' interests and targets relevant advertising at them.

The technology is legitimate, but the Commission says there are problems in the UK because of the way the Government has implemented EU rules on communications confidentiality.

Launching the first stage of legal action, EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said: "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 Commission began investigating after receiving complaints from UK individuals and UK MEPs a year ago when BT admitted it had tested Phorm in 2006 and 2007 without informing customers involved in the trial.

BT then carried out a second, invitation-based trial at the end of last year.

A Commission statement today said Brussels had sent "several" letters to the UK authorities since July last year asking for details about the implementation of EU confidentiality laws in the wake of the Phorm case.

Under UK law, intercepting communications is illegal but only when the interception is deemed to be intentional.

Interception is also considered lawful if the person or body intercepting the communication has "reasonable grounds for believing" that consent has been given.

Today the Commission said it was concerned about the lack of "an independent national supervisory authority dealing with such interceptions".

The Commission has now given the Government two months to respond to today's "infringement proceeding" - the first stage of a legal process which could end up in the European Court of Justice for alleged breach of the EU Data Protection Directive.

The Directive states that user consent must be "freely given, specific, and informed", and it requires EU member states to impose sanctions in the event of breaches of the rules.

It's not often I find myself in agreement with Europe - but it's time for the UK government to pull its' socks up and defend privacy for net users - and moreover stop all this rubbish being downloaded onto my hard drive!