[Ravenheart]

Here's the latest comment I've received on my blog.

phormcomsteam | phormcommsteam@phorm.com |

Hi. xxxx from Phorm here

You are right about the need for transparency here (and your post shows how powerful the Web is for widening access to information). We have been open about our involvement in the adware business which we admit was a wrong turn. Interestingly F-Secure points out that ‘the motive of Apropos is not to use rootkits for hiding itself’ and makes clear that this class of software is used to ‘avoid detection’. Like it or not, Apropos was highly visible in showing adverts ‘ad nauseam’, as F-Secure describes it (http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00000727.html).

For completeness, Apropos could be uninstalled by the user although it was designed so that competitors could not remove it. And like Sony, which found itself criticised for using rootkit technology to protect its copyrighted material, we offered a tool to uninstall the software (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/index.php?p=8200).

We continue to learn from the past and have built the Webwise system with privacy in mind - it will store no personal data unlike the major search engines who keep your information from 13+ months before they even anonymise it. In the spirit of transparency, users will see in the banner ad space that Webwise is on. So if users don’t want it, they will be able to click on these ads and switch it off. (It’s worth noting that the very first thing a user will see when they go online after the system has been deployed is a full-page notice and at that point they can decide to opt out.)

The comment also had an IP address on it. I've been busy with things for a meeting tomorrow so have yet to reply.