UK’s second largest internet service provider admitted that since July, the company has been secretly scrutinizing the web usage of its 4.2 million customers in an attempt to detect malware in the network.

The issue broke through when some customers who ran their own websites noticed that their browsing activities were being monitored by Opal Telecoms which turned out to be the company for the business-to-business division of TalkTalk.

Mark Schmid, TalkTalk’s Communications Director said that since all the browsing information gathered was made anonymous, the monitoring activity was “completely legal”; there was no need to inform or to ask permission from the company’s customer base. He explained further that the process did not monitor each user’s personal web usage. No personal IP addresses (which identify individual computers) were connected to the websites visited.

Instead, a list of websites which are being connected to across the network was generated and then scanned for potential malware.UK’s second largest internet service provider admitted that since July, the company has been secretly scrutinizing the web usage of its 4.2 million customers in an attempt to detect malware in the network.

The issue broke through when some customers who ran their own websites noticed that their browsing activities were being monitored by Opal Telecoms which turned out to be the company for the business-to-business division of TalkTalk.

Mark Schmid, TalkTalk’s Communications Director said that since all the browsing information gathered was made anonymous, the monitoring activity was “completely legal”; there was no need to inform or to ask permission from the company’s customer base. He explained further that the process did not monitor each user’s personal web usage. No personal IP addresses (which identify individual computers) were connected to the websites visited.

Instead, a list of websites which are being connected to across the network was generated and then scanned for potential malware.

The explanation does not seem to sit well with some of the customers who are openly criticizing the company for crossing the thin line in using interception technology. Schmid defended the company by stating that they explicitly made sure that what they were scanning was just a list of websites which would not endanger the privacy of their customers.

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Tags: TalkTalk