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Posted on June 9th, 2008 by Barry Collins
BT’s Phorm trial – the worst excuse ever
Why didn’t BT tell the Information Commissioner about its Phorm trial in 2006? Because it was worried about the privacy implications? No, because it was a bit techy, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
“BT did not discuss these trials with the ICO as they were technical in nature,” the ICO claims in a statement sent to PC Pro.
Considering that pretty much every piece of personal data is now held on a computer database somewhere, is there anything left that isn’t too “technical in nature” for our poor Information Commissioner, which is presumably waiting for Mrs Miggins from the corner shop to lose her paper-round book before clamping down with the full force of our stringent data laws?
Tags: BT, Information Commissioner's Office, Phorm
Posted in: Newsdesk
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June 9th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I thought BT were a bad joke ’til I heard of Phorm…
June 10th, 2008 at 8:10 am
If your trial is sufficiently large or difficult to explain that you can’t comply with the law, then you’re exempt. According to Richard Thomas.
ICO said to Steven Mainwaring… “taking into account the difficulties involved in providing meaningful and clear information to customers … in this case, this is not an issue we intend to pursue further with BT.”
In the old days, if it was difficult to comply with the law, it usually meant you were about to commit a crime.
BT should not have run the trials if it was difficult to comply with the law.
And if the Information Commissioner can’t enforce the law, bring me someone who can.