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

oblonsky · 20-06-2008, 11:19

Hamster, I actually agree with many of your points, which has lead to a blazing row with Alex many pages back, but I have been campaigning against Phorm and still am.

Why? Because any third party which is allowed to plug proprietary information gathering equipment directly into an ISP sets a really dangerous precedent. We only have Phorm’s word over what they actually do, it’s too complex to regulate.

Once Phorm get in, and I trust a lot of what Phorm say about privacy, then along will come NebuAd and all the other data rapers. Each will be under increasing pressure to compete with the features of one another, some will perhaps only pay lip-service to privacy issues in a bid to get ahead.

I repeat – who will regulate all these wannabe data pimps? Who will inspect 10 or 20 proprietary machines with constant software updates installed in ISP data centres throughout the UK? What about data security?

What about the fact that Phorm mangles your HTTP stream and threatens to break some application which rely on a direct answer to HTTP GET, not THREE REDIRECTS?!

Whilst some if not all of the legal arguments against Phorm are untested, one stands out: RIPA.

As a nation we either choose to respect the sanctity of personal communications or not. There’s no in-between. There can’t be, because the sector is too complex to regulate.

Your ISP carries personal communications, as a country we either respect that, in which case we don’t allow advertisers to tap the communications in exactly the same way that phone conversations and private mail is respected, or we allow the advertisers in.

20-06-2008, 11:19	#9575
oblonsky Inactive Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 86	Re: Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797] Hamster, I actually agree with many of your points, which has lead to a blazing row with Alex many pages back, but I have been campaigning against Phorm and still am. Why? Because any third party which is allowed to plug proprietary information gathering equipment directly into an ISP sets a really dangerous precedent. We only have Phorm’s word over what they actually do, it’s too complex to regulate. Once Phorm get in, and I trust a lot of what Phorm say about privacy, then along will come NebuAd and all the other data rapers. Each will be under increasing pressure to compete with the features of one another, some will perhaps only pay lip-service to privacy issues in a bid to get ahead. I repeat – who will regulate all these wannabe data pimps? Who will inspect 10 or 20 proprietary machines with constant software updates installed in ISP data centres throughout the UK? What about data security? What about the fact that Phorm mangles your HTTP stream and threatens to break some application which rely on a direct answer to HTTP GET, not THREE REDIRECTS?! Whilst some if not all of the legal arguments against Phorm are untested, one stands out: RIPA. As a nation we either choose to respect the sanctity of personal communications or not. There’s no in-between. There can’t be, because the sector is too complex to regulate. Your ISP carries personal communications, as a country we either respect that, in which case we don’t allow advertisers to tap the communications in exactly the same way that phone conversations and private mail is respected, or we allow the advertisers in.