* Posts by Mark

2 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Sep 2008

Motor quango thumbsup for satnav speed restrictions

Mark
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Humbug

How long until we all have to succumb to the thought police?

Police quiz BT on secret Phorm trials

Mark
IT Angle

Why this is a worry PHORM or NOT

Since the advent of technology there has been a war going on. The war is between the the sensible use of technology and the abuse of technology. Is PHORM a sensible use of technology - if it really is anonomous as they state then it could be ok, however here is where the problem begins to lie, under various laws within the UK certain types of computer use are illegal. Intercepting data on a public network of computers is a crime unless the parties yes parties agree to it. There are however exceptions to this rule and PHORM is not one of them.

So why should people be worried - PHORM collects information about surfers by intercepting HTTP or Port 80 traffic. This in itself is against parts of the law, more akin to a man in the middle attack, even if they do try to lose the IP address of the user surfing the internet we only have their word that they don't store this information in a way that it can later be tracked. If you have dynamically assigned network address this then you have slightly less to be worried about than those with a fixed address - a fixed address doesn't change and will always be traceable back to the user. However this does not mean that a slight alteration to PHORMS code could not be made to start tracking this information in a way where can no longer be described as anonomous.

It is time the poeple of the UK started to stick up for their privacy, a supermarket knows more about an individual in this country (if the individual subscribes to a loyalty scheme) than the government does and thats only through what you like to buy. If you have a child the supermarket knows so - why because you start buying baby food and nappies. Think about your sufing habits - they say they don't track secure addresses, but how many of the sites that you use for internet banking/email etc connect first to a normal port website. The government as already ordered ISP's to retain identifiable information about there sibscribers, with the PHORM database this potentially infringes on your privacy and human rights siginificantly. You betcha if you have an offshore bank account the government is interested.

Any hows, consider this, if you value your privacy then PHORM is a bad idea in any shape. Do you like SPAM email or JUNK post? Guess what - this could open the flood gates, not to mention the damage that this could do to legitimate websites advertising in the more conventional way. I for one will consider changing to a more private ISP and if I can't find one, then I may consider alternatives.