Digital Trends

The EU has given the British government until the end of August to clarify whether online ad system Phorm breaches European data laws.

Just when one storm regarding Phorm – a system that tracks the habits of web users to online ads can be more firmly targeted at them – dies down, another rises.

This time it’s EU commissioner Viviane Reding who wants answers from the British government as to whether the system breaches European data regulations. Three British ISPs (TalkTalk, BT and Virgin Media) have already signed up to use the service, and BT is due to start trialing it again, following two earlier trials which were conducted without the consent of customers, although the British Information Commissioner ruled that no action could be taken against BT for those because it would have been too complex to explain to customers.

However, the Information Commissioner ruled that ISPs will have to obtain permission from customers before conducting any more trials.

Commissioner Reding reportedly write to the British government in the middle of last month and a spokeswoman for the Department of Business told the BBC:

"We are working with a number of departments on a response."

There has been widespread opposition to Phorm from privacy groups, but an e-petition on the Downing Street site calling for it to be dropped has only drawn 16,000 signatures to date.