BT in Phorm storm

BT has admitted to using customers’ data without their consent to secretly test new advertising technology supplied by the maligned software firm Phorm.

Customers of BT are now considering legal action as a result of having their surfing time compromised.

In a statement issued by BT, the company said: "We conducted a very small scale technical test of a prototype advertising platform on one exchange in June 2007."

"Absolutely no personally identifiable information was processed, stored or disclosed during this trial. As with all service providers, it is important for BT to ensure that, before any potential new technologies are employed, they are robust and fit for purpose."

Several attentive customers noticed that they were being redirected to domains owned by Phorm.

As a result at least one customer has filed a complaint with the Information Commission Office.

Phorm hit the headlines last month after when major ISP providers including Virgin Media, The Carphone Warehouse and BT admitted they were testing the company’s advertising software.

Phorm works by injecting targeted advertising into web pages, using data based on a user's profile built up by intercepting the URLs of web pages visit by a user.