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BT, Virgin Media, and Carphone Warehouse have agreed to feed data on their subscribers' web activities to Phorm. Data will be fed into the Open Internet Exchange, Phorm's advertising network, where advertisers will pay to target interest groups. Frequent visits to the BBC's Top Gear site might result in being served up more car ads, for example.

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TalkTalk, BT and Virgin Media, the three biggest broadband providers in the country with more than nine million customers, last week announced a deal with Ertugrul's Aim-listed Phorm that will put 'targeted advertising' in front of millions of internet users.

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For years now, ISPs have been searching for alternative revenue streams to avoid just being "dumb pipes." A few years ago, they picked up on the fact that they have a tremendous amount of data about what you (yes, you!) do online. A bunch of ISPs then started selling your clickstream data to companies that could do something useful with it (though, those ISPs probably neglected to tell you they were doing this). Late last year, we heard about a company that was trying to work with ISPs to make use of that data themselves to insert their own ads based on your surfing history -- and now we've got the first report of some big ISPs moving into this realm. Over in the UK three big ISPs, BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media have announced plans to use your clickstream data to insert relevant ads as you surf through a new startup called Phorm.

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...Due to concerns over the practices of some of its distribution partners, ContextPlus has determined that it is no longer able to ensure the highest standards of quality and customer care and therefore is discontinuing further distribution of its software....

...Not surprisingly, the company is blaming its affiliates — sounds familiar, yes? According to this article, several high-level investigations are underway. ContextPlus also is responsible for PeopleOnPage...

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For users who don't opt out, the way the system works is much more clear (see "Active mode" slide). Hit a link in your browser and the HTTP request will be intercepted by the ACE and rerouted to Phorm's Anonymiser. Having hijacked the request, the Anonymiser can then set a tracking cookie, which it keeps hold of.

Without a response, the browser resubmits its request for the web page you want to visit. It is again rerouted to Phorm, but only as far as the F5 hardware, which bounces it on to the website you originally wanted, but also sends a copy of the request to Phorm's profiler kit.

The website reruns the content you want, which is again intercepted by the ACE. A copy of the page contents is sent to the Profiler, this time with the cookie in tow. If the publisher of the page is a member of the OIX, keywords in the page can be used to target ads. Finally the page is served up on your screen, and if everything is worked correctly, the browser and the user should be none the

As the process iterates the cookie will sit there, gradually building up a profile of your interests as you browse. It doesn't matter if most of the websites you visit aren't members of the OIX - their content will go towards targeting adverts on those that are.

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Campaign body the Open Rights Group (ORG) has called for further detail on the workings of ad system Phorm.

BT, Virgin and Talk Talk have signed up to trial the system, which intercepts users' web surfing to analyse habits.

In a statement ORG said: "Question marks are beginning to appear over Phorm's compliance with the law.

"Can ISPs' employment of Phorm comply with the Data Protection Act? Is intercepting traffic in this manner an offence under section 1 of Ripa (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act)?"

There is concern that the interception of users web surfing data may contravene Ripa, which makes the interception of any transmission across a public telecommunication system illegal without the explicit consent of users.

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Don't let Phorm/Webwise force you to opt in by default.

Download the Dephormation v1.2 Firefox Add On [visit site].

Why you should be concerned about Kent Ertugrul and Phorm

The Dephormation Add On ensures that your decision to opt out of Phorm profiling cannot be undone.

Optionally, the Add On can also alert you to sites using Phorm/Webwise/OIX profile based advertising.

With each page you view in your browser, a Phorm 'opt out' cookie is set automatically, and the Phorm UID cookie is randomised. Even if you delete all your cookies regularly.

But Dephormation is not a solution. Its a fig leaf for your privacy.

Phorm's webwise product presents so many security/privacy risks it should never be implemented.

Note that Dephormation cannot protect applications like iTunes, Google Earth, other browers such as Lynx and Internet Explorer, instant messaging applications, remote desktop tools, RSS/ATOM feed readers, or external images embedded in HTML email.

www.badphorm.co.uk
www.politicalpenguin.org.uk
Petition to the UK Prime Minister
www.StopPhorm.bebo.com

Complain to your ISP. Your MP.
And the Information Commissioner.
Stop Phorm. Protect your right to privacy.

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said by Grimy :

It's not just Phorm.

»Wide Open West Using NebuAD

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NebuAd installs equipment inside the facilities of Internet service providers (ISPs), which see everything their customers do online. NebuAd's boxes examine many of the sites people visit, what they do there and what they hunt for on search engines.

The company won't say how many carriers or advertisers it works with, though CEO Bob Dykes said Internet providers representing millions of customers run NebuAd's system to let it gather information. In return, they get a share of the revenue from advertising NebuAd places.

The only ISP known to be working with NebuAd is Monroe, La.-based CenturyTel Inc., which has 530,000 broadband subscribers scattered throughout the country. NebuAd says some of the largest ISPs are at least testing the service.

Aspects of NebuAd's technique are already in play. For example, besides cookies, many online retailers deploy "clickstream analysis" tools that monitor what customers do on a given site — what they browse, what they read, which items they put in their shopping carts but fail to buy.

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In a fresh blow to its hopes of winning consumer acceptance, a top three anti-malware firm has said it will very likely include Phorm's targeting cookies in its adware warning database.

Trend Micro told The Register: "The nature of Phorm's monitoring of all user web activity is certainly of some concern, and there is a very high chance that Trend Micro would add detection for the tracking cookies as adware in order to protect customers.

"Obviously, as with other adware/spyware Trend Micro would need to constantly monitor things like... how aware users are that they are being tracked and whether the user has the ability to completely opt out of the service."

If Trend adds detection for Phorm then millions of home computers running a scan using its protection software would get a warning that their ISPs have dropped either a Phorm opt-in or an opt-out cookie onto their systems.

PC Tools, another large anti-malware firm, based in Australia, echoed Trend Micro's concerns for its customers' privacy and security. It said in a statement:

If our research confirms that Phorm places an opt-out cookie on the desktop PC, we will evaluate if it safe to remove it without re-opting the customer back into the Phorm tracking mechanisms.

If the cookie cannot simply be removed but we can find a reliable method to detect the Phorm service, and the Phorm service was evaluated and identified using our threat matrix, we will then endeavour to alert our customers of its existence.

Naturally we encourage all companies involved in handling, monitoring or storing personal information, such as web-surfing behaviour, to prominently disclose whether there is information being supplied or used by a third-party. Ideally any service with privacy implications should require users to consciously opt-in after they know all the facts.

PC Tools is a significant player in consumer desktop security because its Spyware Doctor software is bundled with the Google Pack. We are waiting for responses from Symantec and McAfee, the two largest anti-malware vendors.

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said by ilago :

DePhormication - I'm not seeing how anything you do with your browser at your machine can stop your data being handled by the Phorm hardware in your ISPs hardware.

said by Dephormation :

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With each page you view in your browser, a Phorm 'opt out' cookie is set automatically, and the Phorm UID cookie is randomised. Even if you delete all your cookies regularly.

The Dephormation Add On ensures that your decision to opt out of Phorm profiling cannot be undone.

Optionally, the Add On can also alert you to sites using Phorm/Webwise/OIX profile based advertising.

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