Consumers have been up in arms recently about plans by BT, Talk Talk and Virgin to use Phorm’s behavourial targeting technology. Even Tim Berners-Lee, father of the web, weighed in with concerns about the privacy implications of the technology generally. With consumers signing petitions and the whole industry getting involved, what’s the problem?

In a world where information, and personal data, is often the currency driving value, if new technologies try to use personal information, consumers will react. Whether that means refusing to use certain systems, or even starting to charge for the use of their information – consumers are entering into the debate on what can be done with personal data, how its used and stored and what control consumers have of their own data. It’s a foolish marketer who is unaware of the danger.

Simply put, behavioural targeting uses information collected on someone’s web-browsing behavior (pages visited, or searches done) to choose ads to display to consumers – ensuring that visitors see ads that they are most likely to be influenced by or interested in. Obviously, marketers see this opportunity as a chance to get relevant advertising to interested consumers. But privacy advocates are concerned that these technologies ride roughshod over issues of privacy and ownership of personal data.

The consumer view seems to be concern if marketers know what they want and don’t want, choice is being taken away. Some have equated it with the notion of being followed around in the real world and having every move watched. The fact that a particular technology (in this case BT using Phorm) was trialed last year without consumer knowledge or consent, has only made the issue more contentious.

The key issue that this story has raised is how consumers are concerned about the use of their data, and that every company is going to need to be explicit about what they do and don’t do with data. More than that, if companies want to protect their brand as a trusted party, opt-in for new technologies must be explicit in any roll-out and protection of personal data should be seen as paramount.

James Drake-Brockman - Internet World