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

Florence · 03-06-2008, 09:53

I had a reply from Emma Sanderson today will summerise the answers to the questions as I didn't ask for permissioin to post it all.

1. The two batches of research you did were completed without the customer knowing and according to reportsd from Emma you don't know who they are except the ones who found out they were being diverted on so how could you tell what the customers response was?

Summery of the reply was.
BT did their own customer research which gave encouraging results.

MPO was the question placed in an informed way so customers would know BT were going to deep packet sniff each click.

2. I have a lot of websites that I spend my time building designing etc is this right that you come along and plagiarize it to sell the customers clicks for profit when they already pay for the internet connection?

Summery of reply.

BT do not plagerize websites. Any website owner can choose to participate or not in the OIX. they can opt out with robots.txt or give BT urls to and proof you are owner of website.

MPO was if they use google robots txt then thye are plagerizing since google use the search to bring people to my website phorm will harvest keywords then direct adverts that wil take them away.

3. Why use a company that is noted for its spyware/adware in the past company with a bad reputation that many knowledgeable internet uses know of and avoid?

summery of reply. BT have signed agreements here Emma also says other ISPs have so is VM being economical with the truth, does Emma really know they have signed or was it kents words. Emma also says phorm is in discussions with other ISPs.

MPO unless Emma has seen the signed contracts for the other ISPs then she cannot prove this it is only hear say to make BT not look like the only company.

4. I am working on this with my own experience of them as 121media which wasn't a happy one with children falling foul of their rootkits plus a member of the ISP community where I have moderated a forum for a number of years helping members with ISP related issues. I am trying to think it both ways but it still comes down to flag warning even more since it has been spotted that webwise.bt.com is in phorm control gathered customer details and hosted in Huston. At a company that is ranked in the top 10 phishing hosting companies world wide. This allowed phorm access to customer phone number's account number plus the form filled out went to phorm and not BT as the members were led to believe.

the latest problem brought to my attention is that if you visit BT.com the cookie placed will give any BT.com website including webwise.bt.com the customer details and enough information for someone to attempt to access.

Looking forward to your reply on this and what plans BT has to protect the customers from the effects of phorm phishing the customers information on servers outside the EU?

Summery of reply. Phorm are operating the webwise information site www.bt.com/webwise there is also a mail https link in the reply. This is done as Phorm is a trusted partner to BT and has BT's explicit consent was added this is not uncommon in brackets. Emma says she is confidant it doesnt pose any security risk. Emma also says the BT.com websites includes functionality so once you have signed in the website will remember the users until the browser is closed. This is to make it so customers do not have to repeatedly relog in. You have one secure login in then cookie tells the site you move around who you are the design also prevents unautherised access to users login sessions..

Emma admits Phorm have been hosting a contact phorm (oops sorry form) Which phorms system has to forward the customers requests. Emma says they do not require customer consent to allow phorm to host the site but assures me that BT complies to relevent law. In the last week BT have altered the contact phorm(form) so it is a standard BT contact to replace the ones hosted by phorm.

Oh yes in reply to one questions Emma did use the words due diligence.
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I bet this was forced through using the proxy vote from chairperson no sane person would go for this deeppacket sniffing spying on every click.

03-06-2008, 09:53	#7882
Florence Inactive Join Date: Jun 2003 Services: The wonders of Sky TV BT line and Aquiss.net ADSL cable dies on 5th RIP VM. Posts: 4,004	Re: Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797] I had a reply from Emma Sanderson today will summerise the answers to the questions as I didn't ask for permissioin to post it all. 1. The two batches of research you did were completed without the customer knowing and according to reportsd from Emma you don't know who they are except the ones who found out they were being diverted on so how could you tell what the customers response was? Summery of the reply was. BT did their own customer research which gave encouraging results. MPO was the question placed in an informed way so customers would know BT were going to deep packet sniff each click. 2. I have a lot of websites that I spend my time building designing etc is this right that you come along and plagiarize it to sell the customers clicks for profit when they already pay for the internet connection? Summery of reply. BT do not plagerize websites. Any website owner can choose to participate or not in the OIX. they can opt out with robots.txt or give BT urls to and proof you are owner of website. MPO was if they use google robots txt then thye are plagerizing since google use the search to bring people to my website phorm will harvest keywords then direct adverts that wil take them away. 3. Why use a company that is noted for its spyware/adware in the past company with a bad reputation that many knowledgeable internet uses know of and avoid? summery of reply. BT have signed agreements here Emma also says other ISPs have so is VM being economical with the truth, does Emma really know they have signed or was it kents words. Emma also says phorm is in discussions with other ISPs. MPO unless Emma has seen the signed contracts for the other ISPs then she cannot prove this it is only hear say to make BT not look like the only company. 4. I am working on this with my own experience of them as 121media which wasn't a happy one with children falling foul of their rootkits plus a member of the ISP community where I have moderated a forum for a number of years helping members with ISP related issues. I am trying to think it both ways but it still comes down to flag warning even more since it has been spotted that webwise.bt.com is in phorm control gathered customer details and hosted in Huston. At a company that is ranked in the top 10 phishing hosting companies world wide. This allowed phorm access to customer phone number's account number plus the form filled out went to phorm and not BT as the members were led to believe. the latest problem brought to my attention is that if you visit BT.com the cookie placed will give any BT.com website including webwise.bt.com the customer details and enough information for someone to attempt to access. Looking forward to your reply on this and what plans BT has to protect the customers from the effects of phorm phishing the customers information on servers outside the EU? Summery of reply. Phorm are operating the webwise information site www.bt.com/webwise there is also a mail https link in the reply. This is done as Phorm is a trusted partner to BT and has BT's explicit consent was added this is not uncommon in brackets. Emma says she is confidant it doesnt pose any security risk. Emma also says the BT.com websites includes functionality so once you have signed in the website will remember the users until the browser is closed. This is to make it so customers do not have to repeatedly relog in. You have one secure login in then cookie tells the site you move around who you are the design also prevents unautherised access to users login sessions.. Emma admits Phorm have been hosting a contact phorm (oops sorry form) Which phorms system has to forward the customers requests. Emma says they do not require customer consent to allow phorm to host the site but assures me that BT complies to relevent law. In the last week BT have altered the contact phorm(form) so it is a standard BT contact to replace the ones hosted by phorm. Oh yes in reply to one questions Emma did use the words due diligence. ------------------------------------------------------------------- I bet this was forced through using the proxy vote from chairperson no sane person would go for this deeppacket sniffing spying on every click.