UK ISP's to sell users browsing habits

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knoydart

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#21110 16-Apr-2008 08:24

Hi,

I wondered if anyone had any comments on what is currently going on in the UK with the 3 largest ISP's planning on selling the data streams of thier users to an outside company with an outside company with some interesting history to say the least. The outside company in qustion is called Phorm. The ISPs in Question are BT, Talk talk and virgin media (formally NTL cable). Lots of issues surrounding it with off shore data storage and opting in and out. The register in the UK has much more info and here are a couple of links to read over as they do a much better job...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/29/phorm_roundup/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/29/phorm_documents/

Do you think NZ ISPs would ever go down the same route and if so, would you consider changing providers?

freitasm

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#123992 16-Apr-2008 11:59

More in depth information here at F-Secure blog.

knoydart: Do you think NZ ISPs would ever go down the same route and if so, would you consider changing providers?

I am afraid yes. Money talks.

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foobar

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#124130 16-Apr-2008 17:55

freitasm:
knoydart: Do you think NZ ISPs would ever go down the same route and if so, would you consider changing providers?

I am afraid yes. Money talks.

Yes, they would. In fact, several years ago, I talked to a network engineer for an ISP here in New Zealand, and he told me that it is quite normal for ISPs to sell log infromation to log analysis and marketing companies. It was a small ISP, maybe some 10,000 subscribers.They would be able to sell a month's worth of log data to that marketing firm for about $300 (or so, I hope my memory serves me well here on this one). A rediculously small amount of money, but since the customers didn't know and didn't complain, nobody whined ... so no harm done, right? Better to have $300 than not, I guess.

ISPs work with incredibly small margins, so anything that can get them money (ANY money) without impacting user experience too negatively is good. And since passing on the logs doesn't impact user experience at all (at least immediately) this is essentially a no-brainer for an ISP.

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freitasm

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#124230 17-Apr-2008 00:06

foobar: In fact, several years ago, I talked to a network engineer for an ISP here in New Zealand, and he told me that it is quite normal for ISPs to sell log infromation to log analysis and marketing companies.

That's how Hitwise get their information. They say it is an aggregate though...

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foobar

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#124246 17-Apr-2008 03:56

freitasm:
foobar: In fact, several years ago, I talked to a network engineer for an ISP here in New Zealand, and he told me that it is quite normal for ISPs to sell log infromation to log analysis and marketing companies.

That's how Hitwise get their information. They say it is an aggregate though...

Yes, Hitwise. But do they GET an aggregate from the ISPs, or do they happily take the raw log files (and then hopefully aggregate it)? If it's the latter, the ISP still gave out the non-aggregated log files to them and thus - in effect - they gave away the browsing data of their users.

The blog: foobar on computers, software and the rest of the world: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/foobar