Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayceef1
Put your toys back in the pram. I never said I agreed with it. Just pointing out that there are many other things out there that are just as bad if not worse. Sky already sell data on and that does include e-mails & tel nos. Phorm say they do not get e-mails or addresses yet you say they do how do you know better? There has been one (probably premature) press release from Phorm and the world and his wife have set themselves up as experts on the subject spreading wild rumours about what it can or cannot do yet nothing is agreed as yet. Wait for more information and then see. It may be a problem or it may not depending on how it is done. What BT do may be different to what CPW or VM do. Until we know more it is pointless people getting worked up about it.
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Not without your explicit consent they don't (you _will_ have had to tick or untick a box somewhere at some point to consent to this). If you ask for it, fine. This is different.
There is good information on how it works available from people who have actually looked at the way the BT experiment was run last year (again without consent).
Phorm have explained exactly what they throw away on their website: "Phorm technology does not view any information on secure (HTTPS) pages, and ignores strings of numbers longer than three digits to ensure that we do not collect credit card numbers, phone numbers, National Insurance or other potentially private information."
How many addresses and names conform to those parameters? Fair enough, that may change, but that's the information we have right now. Does that sound like enough to you?
The company is a "reformed" known spyware/scumware operator who have used rootkit techniques in the past. Would you let Ian Huntley work as a primary school teacher? Would you let Jerome Kerviel run a hedge fund?
It's not just random shouting and toy/pram ejection. I'd say the most sensible option is
not to wait and see whatever harvesting these crooks think they can get away with next, but to voice objections loudly
right now, before VM/BT etc. get the idea that their customers really are sheep. If you don't let them know, and threaten them the only way it's actually possible to hurt them, by withdrawing your custom, then they will think this is acceptable behaviour and expand it. It is not.