Re: Phorm and the BT AGM

Nicholas Bohm wrote:
> I have been asked to circulate the following:
> 
> 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

^H^H^H^H^H^H^H blatantly 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
> 
> 
>