[gentoo-user] [OT] Petition against ISPs 'phishing' their users

[Mick]

Hi All,

I know some may find this off topic and apologise in advance.  Please don't 
respond to this message as I do not want to consume more of the M/L 
bandwidth.  See the links below for relevant discussion forums.

Those of you who are in the UK and are using BT retail, Virgin Media and 
Talk-Talk as your ISP, you would probably be quite alarmed to find out that 
your Internet habits are recorded.  In itself that's not bad, but the fact 
that your Internet browsing behaviour is thereafter sold to an (ex) phishing 
business (Phorm) which is incorporated in Delaware, US, with long history in 
rootkits and spyware, is not exactly benign.  Your data is stored in servers 
in China and used to serve you adverts, tuned to your browsing history and 
patterns.  The recording of your data is not something you can opt out of - 
other than going to another ISP that does not (yet) subscribe to Phorm.  The 
adverts you can apparently opt out of, by retaining a cookie in your browser 
(opposite to conventional website practice).

If you want to voice your opposition to such practices in the UK and are 
concerned about personal data privacy, then please sign the petition at the 
bottom whether you use or not the 3 ISPs above.  Of course if you do use the 
3 culprits you may well wish to vote with your feet . . .

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/29/phorm_documents/

http://search.theregister.co.uk/?q=PHORM

Long discussion here: 
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,61201.0.html (although 
Plusnet do not engage in such practices on their own network).

I understand that there are big threads in Virgin Media and BT forums too.

Petition here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ispphorm/

Thank you for your attention.
-- 
Regards,
Mick