The privacy button that Phorm will ignore

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

The BBC reports as news that Microsoft is to introduce a privacy mode in its next version of its second-most popular bloatware after Windows, namely Internet Explorer. Version 8 of IE will feature a button that will erase any trace on the host computer of websites you’ve visited. Yet towards the end of the article, the writer just about remembers to inform readers that Apple’s Safari browser already has a privacy mode and developers working for Mozilla, creators of Firefox, are reportedly working on a similar feature for future versions. He or she makes no mention of the fact that there’s at least one plugin for Firefox that does the job, and has done so for over a year now, called Stealther.

Is it really news, or should the headline have been Microsoft finally catches up with everyone else instead of Web browser to get ‘privacy mode’? What’s more, it should be added that none of the privacy options currently available on any of the browsers, nor that planned for IE8, will do anything to protect UK users from the illegal yet soon to be implemented Phorm tracking system, which will note all your Web activity in order to serve you targeted ads. That’s because the tracking by Phorm isn’t done on your computer, but centrally at your ISP if it has decided to flout the law, as is the case with BT. Your data can only be scrambled or erased by you on your host computer—but back on the server, and en route to and from your computer, it will be open to scrutiny and analysis leading to conclusions being drawn. You can’t get at it there.

BT is only pressing ahead with Phorm because the UK government has adopted a ‘hands off’ approach, leaving it to customers to sue the company as and when and if Phorm gets implemented. The EU has, however, demanded that the UK government explain its inaction, and how Phorm works, by the end of this month. If the EU decides against Phorm, it will serve to underline how the UK government is prepared to turn a blind eye to the activities of big companies that contravene the law. More shocking than Phorm itself is the notion that it is up to the people to fight the giants, not the government through legislation and enforcement.

The BBC article helpfully explains why people may want to use the privacy button–’if they are planning a surprise party, buying presents or researching a medical condition and do not want others users of the same computer to find out’. Another, less tasteful, reason is omitted. But again, all information would still be logged under Phorm. It’s like the uninvited guest, one that goes through your knicker drawer upstairs while you’re in the kitchen, and when you tell it to go, it won’t.

I was interested to read recently that the company behind Phorm believes there’s no risk whatsoever of children being targeted with pornography advertisements on a home PC if a parent or older sibling has been surfing X-rated websites, because most everyone using a shared computer has their own login. Oh, really? Most of the people I know, whether they use Mac OS X or Windows, don’t bother with separate login accounts irrespective of how many people use the one computer. Because it’s a pointless pain to have to log out and log back in if you just want to hop on the Internet for five minutes, or play a game for half an hour.

Separate logins also, for some, denote a lack of trust. They seem, for most of us, only appropriate in the workplace or student halls or other communal places, not the family home. A privacy button for browsing is a much better at-home solution than logging out and back in again, especially for Windows users who can easily see that one activity taking up quarter of an hour. And even though logging out and back in for Mac users takes no more than five minutes, why waste those few minutes either? And when you consider that a privacy button will only stop members of your family from seeing what you’re up to, but will do nothing to stop a bunch of suited strangers observing everything you do, you have to ask, what is the point of window dressing with fancy buttons on any browser, when there’s this core, much more fundamental, issue of who owns (it should be you) and has access to your personal data?

Even criminals should have the right to know that their personal data is safe, and inaccessible to all but those who have the legal right to view it.