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Information Technology News Bad Phorm: EU demands UK Government response on intrusive web ad tracking technology
Information Technology News Bad Phorm: EU demands UK Government response on intrusive web ad tracking technology | Bad Phorm: EU demands UK Government response on intrusive web ad tracking technology |
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| by Davey Winder | |
| Wednesday, 06 August 2008 | |
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Phorm was not the first, nor is it the only, player in the field of Web-based behavioural advertising technology. But it sure as heck remains one of the most talked about. Featured Whitepaper
5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support
In the UK, Phorm has announced deals with three Internet Service Providers which would give it a reach of around 70 percent of the entire British broadband user market. And that is where it all started going wrong for Phorm. It emerged that one of those ISPs, BT, had been running secret technology trials to test the Phorm Webwise system. Unfortunately it failed to inform the customers whose data was being used, whose habits were being monitored, during the trial. What's more, BT actually denied the accusations of any trial initially and suggested that the redirects some customers had been experiencing must have been caused by malware installed on their machines. It is oh so tempting to say that they were nearly right, given that Phorm changed its company name from 121Media in July 2007. 121Media were behind PeopleOnPage, an advertising engine wrapper classified as spyware by leading security researchers. Although the UK Information Commissioner has already ruled that there will be no action taken against BT over the incident, the reasoning has not calmed the swell of outrage against both BT and Phorm. Why didn't the Information Commissioner take action against BT, and why has the European Union Commissioner got involved? Story continues on page 2... CONTINUES |
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