From BBC News.
EU takes legal action against UK over Web privacy
12 mins ago
The European Commission said on Tuesday it was launching legal action against Britain over concerns about the government's failure to protect Internet users' privacy.
The European Union's executive arm gave London two months to reply to the formal warning, after which Brussels could sue the Brown government before an EU court if it is not satisfied by the answer.
The commission took the action after receving complaints about behavioural advertising technology known as Phorm -- after the US company that pioneered it -- which tracks Internet users surfing to target them with ads.
The commission said it has identified "structrual problems" after following up complaints over British authorities handling of communications company BT's testing of Phorm without letting customers know.
Under EU law, a person's personal information cannot be used without their consent.
In addition to concern about Britain's interpretation of the scope of the law, the commission was also concerned that Britain does not have an independent supervisory authority to deal with intercepted information cases.
More generally, the European Commission wants to clamp down rules on the use of such behavioural advertising technology.
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