Berners-Lee berates ISPs for tracking customers

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 17 Mar 2008 at 07:47

Sir Tim Berners-Lee has attacked ISPs who seek to track their customers' web history.

The web's creator has spoken out after several high-profile ISPs struck deals with Phorm, a web advertising company that tailors ads based on users' web activity.

Berners-Lee claims such deals could lead to unexpected consequences for customers of those ISPs, which include BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk. "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 5% because they've figured I'm looking at those books," Berners-Lee tells the BBC.

The 'father of the web' claims the advertisers should be paying customers - not the ISPs - if they want access to search histories. "It's mine - you can't have it. If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me. I have to agree, I have to understand what I'm getting in return."

And Sir Tim says ISPs should behave like any other utility company. "I myself feel that it is very important that my ISP supplies internet to my house like the water company supplies water to my house," he adds.

"It supplies connectivity with no strings attached. My ISP doesn't control which websites I go to, it doesn't monitor which websites I go to."

Berners-Lee is also cautious of the privacy implications of social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace. "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," he advises users.