Cable Forum - View Single Post - Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797]

OF1975 · 26-03-2008, 13:39

Welcome back to the forum PhormUKPRTeam

Yes thank you I had a good easter. I hope you did too. I am currently spending all day at home waiting for a repairman to come fix our fridge/freezer. Ho hum.

Two salient points in response to your post.

1) Freedom of Choice: I see a wealth of difference between say google, yahoo etc and your system. As I and others have said before, with phorm being at the ISP level, in effect you get to get profile us on the totality of our browsing habits. In essence, if I dont want google, yahoo, (insert other company here) profiling me then I can easily choose to change to another or spread my searches and browsing around. It is not so simple to change Internet Providers. No doubt you will argue that we have choice in that we can turn webwise off or "opt-out" but considering the paucity of information coming out of Virgin Media and yourself regarding exactly how this system will work I remain yet to be convinced. Coincidentally, Virgin Media really need to wise up and start dealing with this rather than just hanging your client out to dry. This is not going away.

2) Quid Pro Quo There is no de facto quid pro quo where webwise and the Phorm system is concerned. As has been pointed out many times the anti-phishing technology is nothing new and most likely no better than the anti-phishing technology already existant in IE7 and Firefox. Similarly, "more relevant ads" are actually pointless for me and I expect many others too. I dont look at online ads and I have no intention to start. If I want to buy something online then I will go look for it myself and speak to friends to get their recommendations.

I acknowledge you raise important points about other companies storing data but again, I must refer back to my point above about the fact that I have a great deal of freedom. I can choose to share my browsing around different search engines. Phorms system effectively profiles me based on the totality of my browsing and provides nothing in return. To take your oft quoted example of gmail, they provide an easy to use, convenient web based email service with large storage. Yes they profile and store data but if I so choose to, use their service I get something with real value in response.

Trying to argue that the revenue the ISPs earn from this will be ploughed back into our services really is a staggering example of disingenious PR in my opinion. Virgin Media is already one of the most expensive Internet Providers and is in a huge amount of debt.

26-03-2008, 13:39	#1758
OF1975 Inactive Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Stazi Republic of Phormistan Posts: 329	Re: Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797] Welcome back to the forum PhormUKPRTeam Yes thank you I had a good easter. I hope you did too. I am currently spending all day at home waiting for a repairman to come fix our fridge/freezer. Ho hum. Two salient points in response to your post. 1) *Freedom of Choice: I see a wealth of difference between say google, yahoo etc and your system. As I and others have said before, with phorm being at the ISP level, in effect you get to get profile us on the totality of our browsing habits. In essence, if I dont want google, yahoo, (insert other company here) profiling me then I can easily choose to change to another or spread my searches and browsing around. It is not so simple to change Internet Providers. No doubt you will argue that we have choice in that we can turn webwise off or "opt-out" but considering the paucity of information coming out of Virgin Media and yourself regarding exactly* how this system will work I remain yet to be convinced. Coincidentally, Virgin Media really need to wise up and start dealing with this rather than just hanging your client out to dry. This is not going away. 2) *Quid Pro Quo* There is no de facto quid pro quo where webwise and the Phorm system is concerned. As has been pointed out many times the anti-phishing technology is nothing new and most likely no better than the anti-phishing technology already existant in IE7 and Firefox. Similarly, "more relevant ads" are actually pointless for me and I expect many others too. I dont look at online ads and I have no intention to start. If I want to buy something online then I will go look for it myself and speak to friends to get their recommendations. I acknowledge you raise important points about other companies storing data but again, I must refer back to my point above about the fact that I have a great deal of freedom. I can choose to share my browsing around different search engines. Phorms system effectively profiles me based on the totality of my browsing and provides nothing in return. To take your oft quoted example of gmail, they provide an easy to use, convenient web based email service with large storage. Yes they profile and store data but if I so choose to, use their service I get something with real value in response. Trying to argue that the revenue the ISPs earn from this will be ploughed back into our services really is a staggering example of disingenious PR in my opinion. Virgin Media is already one of the most expensive Internet Providers and is in a huge amount of debt.