“As you browse, we’re able to categorize all of your Internet actions,” said Virasb Vahidi, the chief operating officer of Phorm. “We actually can see the entire Internet.”

The entire Internet- that’s quite a bit I must say. This is the basis for a great pitch that Phorm is throwing at AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other ISPs (as reported in the NY Times by Louise Story)- we can track everything. That comprehensive view of what every individual does on the Internet has to add up to advertising dollars somehow, right?

Well, of course. However, there’s the simple problem that maybe, just maybe, people will have some apprehension about a company tracking every single thing they do and selling (or otherwise profiting from) that information somehow. But apparently Phorm is already rolling in Britain, and claims to have access to 70% of British households that have a broadband connection. Naturally, the British Government is investigating the privacy ramifications… of a company… tracking everything many of their citizens do online. Should be a tough investigation.

As you can probably tell, I join the likes of Timothy Berners-Lee in opposing this. I think the fair solution is simple – as the article notes, simply make it an opt-in service rather than an opt-out (it’s currently opt-out, though it’s left to the partners to determine how the opt-out is presented. Do you think it’s front and centre?). If there is value in such services for the user, it is in relation to the targeted ads that (theoretically) could point you towards amazing things that you want based on your habits. Consumers that see that as valuable can opt-in and be tracked, and everyone else can take a pass.

It is one of those common sense solutions that simply must be passed someday, because right now it seems like we are on a slippery privacy slope. While Phorm and others claim that personal identities (etc.) are well protected, I’m not sure the “random number generator protection strategy” will stand the test of time… there’s been too many slip-ups in the past to have any confidence that they won’t happen again.