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Originally Posted by oblonsky
In the unlikely event that Phorm does get rolled out, and is allowed by the regulators, it would be suicide if an ISP was found to be breaching other people's copyright by ignoring the robots.txt.
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Robots.txt and copyright. There is no link.
Copyright is a mechanism of inclusion (and requires explicit licence to copy).
Robots.txt is a mechanism of exclusion (and requires denial of licence to index).
Put a different way, BT would dearly like to push the idea that web sites owners have no copyright by default.
That's legally and morally wrong, and you should not co-operate with them to make it so. Wait for them to switch Phorm on, then sue for copyright infringement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oblonsky
This will be Phorm and BTs undoing, chosing to fight the very people whose support they most need. Chosing to run trials in secret and attempting an equally quiet and secretive roll-out.
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I work in IT for my sins... One key step when you create a new system is a stage called 'stakeholder analysis'. In that step you identify the people impacted by your new system, and consider the effect that your IT system might have.
Phorm ignoring web sites was probably intentional. Asking web site owners if they wanted their communications intercepted, and their copyright works stolen, would probably have elicited a firm refusal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oblonsky
Without this campaign, the ICO would not even have gone so far as to rule that Phorm must be opt-in, and that consent muts be clear and unambiguous. THis was a major victory for us, let's not forget that.
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It was a battle won, but its not enough.
If we don't prevent Phorm intercepting web traffic without the consent of both parties to the communication the internet is going to change dramatically. Expect to see widespread encryption, denial of content to Phorming ISPs customers, and web site countermeasures.
And if Government won't protect the privacy of web data communications, expect phones, SMS, voip, emails to be the next battlefield.
Phorm must be stopped.