If Phorm spokesman Alex Laity said "we did go to the Home Office before launch" then he could not have been talking about the trials in 2006/7 because Simon Watkin at the Home Office said the following to me in an FoI response;
- Whether the Home Office were made aware of the secret trials conducted by Phorm in 2006/7
It wasn’t.
- Whether the Home Office authorised secret trials conducted by Phorm in 2006/7
The Home Office was not aware of the trials/tests.
- When you first started advising BT and Phorm (and other ISPs)
Asked for a view we gave that view to all parties who asked for it on or after 4 February 2008.
Phorm did not, repeat DID NOT, advise the Home Office before trialling the software in 2006/7. I'm still hopeful we might get more information about the Home Office involvement prior to the public announcement on February 14 2008.
Pete