The UKPA reports:
The European Commission is taking the UK to court for breaking EU rules on safeguarding internet privacy.
The move follows complaints to the Commission from British internet users that they have been targeted by advertisers based on an analysis of their “internet traffic”.
A Commission statement said it first launched legal proceedings in April last year amid concerns about how the UK authorities dealt with citizens’ concerns over the use of “behavioural advertising” by internet service providers.
The complaints were handled by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK personal data protection authority and police forces responsible for investigating cases of illegal interception of communications.
[…]
As Chris Williams of The Register tells it:
The European Commission is suing the UK government over authorities’ failure to take any action in response to BT’s secret trials of Phorm’s behavioural advertising technology.
The Commission alleges the UK is failing to meet its obligations under the Data Protection Directive and the ePrivacy Directive.
The action follows 18 months of letters back and forth between Whitehall and Brussels. The Commssion demanded changes to UK law that have not been made, so it has today referred the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
Read more in The Register.
Note: For those looking for more background on the issues and history, Out-Law.com has a post today with links to previous coverage.