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The Information Commissioner's Office issued its long awaited response to BT's trialling of the Phorm platform on Friday, advocating a wait and see approach to the technology.

"[Phorm] assure us that their system does not allow the retention of individual profiles of sites visited and adverts presented, and that they hold no personally identifiable information on web users," the statement reads.

"We welcome the efforts they are making to engage with

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sceptical technical experts and believe that it is only by allowing their technology to be subject to detailed scrutiny by independent technical experts that they will be able to prove their assertions regarding privacy."

In response, FIPR says it is concerned that the statement "appeared to give the go-ahead for upcoming trials."

"We now know that BT has already conducted secret trials of this technology, testing the effectiveness of snooping on their customers' internet activities," says Nicholas Bohm, general counsel for FIPR.

"As we pointed out in our letter, the illegality stems not from breaching the Data Protection Act directly, but arises from the fact that the system intercepts internet traffic. Interception is a serious offence, punishable by up to two years in prison. Almost incidentally, because the system is unlawful to operate, it cannot comply with Data Protection principles."

"We sincerely hope that the Information Commissioner will reconsider what appears to be a green light for lawbreaking."