Phorm Protest at BT Annual Meeting

From: ALEXANDER JOHN HANFF <S0107981[at]Cumbria.ac.uk>
To: <cryptome[at]earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 18:08:33 +0100
Subject: Press Release - Prostesters to Picket Shareholders at BT PLC AGM

To Whom it may concern,

I notice there has been extended debate on the cryptome mailing list with 
regards the issues surrounding plans by the 3 top Internet Service Providers 
in the UK (BT, Virgin Media and Car Phone Warehouse) to deploy deep packet 
inspection technologies onto their networks for the purpose of building 
behavioural profiles which will then be sold to a 3rd party (Phorm Inc.) 
for their OIX advertising platform.

I have been unable to locate a sign up page for ukcrypto's mailing list, so 
I am forwarding you a press release with the hopes that you will relay it 
to your members on my behalf (see below).

[Subscribe to UK Crypto:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/ukcrypto ]

________________________________________

From: ALEXANDER JOHN HANFF
Sent: 31 May 2008 01:08
Subject: Press Release - Protesters to Picket Shareholders at BT PLC AGM

Protesters to Picket shareholders at BT PLC Annual General Meeting - 16th July 2008

On 16th July 2008 there will be a full day protest against the use of Deep 
Packet Inspection for the purpose of behavioural profiling.  The event will 
focus on the plans by BT PLC, Virgin Media and Car Phone Warehouse to introduce 
deep packet inspection technologies through exclusive contracts with Phorm Inc.

Since Phorm issued a press release on 14th February 2008 regarding these exclusive 
contracts there has been a storm of outrage amongst the public, leading academics, 
privacy advocates, Members of Parliament, Members of the European Parliament, 
Peers in the House of Lords and the industry as whole.  The technology has been 
called illegal by Foundation for Information Policy Research, which was recently 
supported by a statement from the European Commission.

As a result of the negative publicity generated over the past 3 months Phorm 
Inc.'s share price has plummeted by approx 70% and continues to struggle to 
develop confidence from investors.

In 2006/2007 BT PLC have admitted to running covert trials of the technology 
without first obtaining the consent from customers required by EU and UK Data 
Protection and Communications regulations, directives and legislation.  However, 
to date neither the Information Commissioner nor the Secretary of State have 
held BT PLC to account for these allegedly illegal actions.

Therefore, the growing public campaign to seek justice for the victims of these 
covert trials and the wider mission of stopping the technology from being 
deployed, has led to an organised one day protest in London, UK.  There is 
expected to be a significant press and media presence at the event which will 
begin at the Barbican Centre, continue on to BT Centre (BT's corporate HQ) and 
finally end with a march on to Charing Cross Metropolitan Police Station in the 
early evening.  On arrival at the Metropolitan Police station a full case file 
with witness testimonies and supporting evidence, along with a petition 
demanding a criminal investigation will be handed to the senior officer on duty.

For more details about the event, please visit the following two web sites:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/30/bt_agm_phorm_protest

http://www.nodpi.org

If you require further information please contact me via the NoDPI web site listed above.

Sincerely,

Alexander Hanff
University of Cumbria