TalkTalk reprimanded for watching where its customers go online

Broadband provider TalkTalk has been reprimanded by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over an anti-malware trial which involved the company following its customers around the web.

In trialling the new system, provided by Chinese telecoms equipment supplier Hauwei, TalkTalk allowed the online activities of its customers to be recorded in detail - something which the ICO says it wants to look into. In order to create master lists of safe and potentially unsafe web addresses, the URLs visited by TalkTalk customers were recorded, and then scanned for threats by the software.

However, although TalkTalk maintains that its recording of the websites its customers visit doesn't break any privacy laws, it is exactly the kind of thing the ICO is expected to monitor. The ICO is charged with upholding both the Data Protection Act and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. TalkTalk maintains that because the software does not link the harvested web addresses to any identifiable personal information, it breaks neither set of regulations.

However, in communications between Information Commissioner Christopher Graham and TalkTalk, obtained under the freedom of information act, the Commissioner expressed concern that the trials had been reported to neither the customers nor the ICO.

"I am concerned that the trial was undertaken without first informing those affected that it was taking place," he said, adding "In the light of the public reaction to BT's trial of the proposed Webwise service I am disappointed to note that this particular trial was not mentioned to my officials during the latest of our liasion meetings." 

TalkTalk told Broadband Genie today that it admits not informing the ICO of the trial was a mistake on its part. However, it robustly defended the technology in two informative posts on its blog, written by TalkTalk Technology MD Clive Dorsman. You can find them here: 

Keeping customers safe online - update

Keeping customers safe online