UK-based ISP TalkTalk, owned by the Carphone warehouse (Phone Warehouse in the EU) has been reprimanded by the Information Commissioner’s Office for failing to disclose enough information about a malware system it was launching, according to the BBC.
The controversial system collected the URLs of websites visited by its customers and the ISP failed to inform either its customers or the ICO before its launch.
Mark Schmid, TalkTalk’s Director of Communication said in a statement “We were simply looking at the urls accessed from our network, we weren’t looking at customer behaviour so we didn’t feel we were obliged to inform customers. This is all about protecting customers. It is not designed to provide us with data for any other purpose.”
The system scanned the websites visited by TalkTalk customers to aid the company in detailing websites that could contain malware or viruses.
British Telecom had proposed a similar service called Webwise which was heavily criticised by the British public. BT also conducted trials without informing customers which led to accusations of intercepting private data.
Online privacy is an issue of which the public is becoming increasingly aware, which can only be a positive thing.
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