[80/20Thinking]

I'd appreciate the opportunity to make a few comments about the broader perspective here, while also conducting a little expectation management regarding the PIA.

I mentioned at the start of the public meeting that tectonic shifts are occurring in the online environment. Many of you will know these shifts well. Microsoft makes a play for Yahoo, while Google acquires Doubleick, capturing more than half the ad potential of the Web. Yahoo responds by cutting a deal with Google. Meanwhile, Time Warner through advertising.com via AOL launches a rival global ad platform.

Meanwhile, back in the EU, the national privacy commissioners, tired of missing the boat on online issues, raise the privacy bar via the Article 29 Group to drive a wedge through the ad space market and lay down an unprecedented set of demands that could, who knows, spark a mini trade war between the EU and the US.

There's about $20 billion up for grabs in ad space margins, which accounts for much of this activity. That accounts for the existence of Phorm, as it accounts for its rival platforms along with the consolidation spree you read about every day.

At the moment I'm trying to come to terms not just with these tectonic shifts within industry, but also the extraordinary chasm that is opening up between the ad market and the new regulatory regime. Phorm accounts for a very small part of that vast picture. Every week I speak with people from each of the key online corporations and the regulators in an attempt to understand where this is taking us as consumers.

Enter the PIA into this equation. Please do not make the mistake of believing that the PIA is likely to be either judge or white knight. It is merely a process that will lead, we hope, both to greater clarification and to a better outcome for consumers. Neither it nor 80/20 carry any legal standing whatever. Our role is not to sit in judgment, but to set out facts. We cannot "set matters right", but we can make recommendations for reform. The market or the courts may decide the ultimate outcome in whatever field we explore.

I can't be the "hero" some of you would like me to be - at least, not as a result of doing a PIA. You may feel confident about some of the points I will make, but you may also be disappointed that some of my observations will be set against those tectonic shifts I mentioned earlier.

Simon