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

markt50 · 20-06-2008, 14:30

HamsterWheel,

I fully understand that you're in support of Phorm, however I am curious as to how even supporters of theirs can not have concerns. Let me explain.

Everytime Phorm or an ISP are asked about the 'opt out' they always tack on a line at the end of the answer, something along the lines of 'If you opt out no traffic will be sent from the ISP to phorm. We should be clear: the Phorm servers are located in the ISP's network and browsing data is not transmitted outside the ISP.'

So this indicates that whilst you may be able to 'opt out' from the targeting of adverts, you cannot opt out from being profiled. Further evidence of this can be found by the very fact that TalkTalk have confirmed they are looking at a switch based 'opt out' to completely bypass Phorm, this again indicates that Phorms 'Opt out' is not a real opt out.

Also whilst Phorm argue that there is no degredation in service quality, we know that numerous redirects take place that will have to increase the time it takes for a page to get served to your machine (even if it is a few extra milliseconds).

So to simplify, given that many people are concerned that there is no real 'Opt out' and that Internet performance maybe affected. Do you think that people do not have a right to be able to really decide for themselves if they want to use this service, do we not have a right to be able to entirely bypass Phorms systems so that our Internet access works exactly as it has always worked, with no additional redirects or data being mirrored to profilers.

Phorm have never once provided any suitable answers to these and many other questions. Let me put it this way, if Phorm was introduced as an 'Opt In' system, and if I decided not to opt in and my traffic was never changed from how it works today, then I would have no problem with Phorm at all. The facts are that Phorm does not work this way, it has no 'opt out', it is trying to trick people by launching with a default 'opt-in' policy.

All Phorm has to do for me is prove that I can really opt out, and that if I opt out my Internet connection is not going to be degraded. They have failed to prove these very simple things and I can't help but wonder why.

20-06-2008, 14:30	#9633
markt50 Inactive Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 13	Re: Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797] HamsterWheel, I fully understand that you're in support of Phorm, however I am curious as to how even supporters of theirs can not have concerns. Let me explain. Everytime Phorm or an ISP are asked about the 'opt out' they always tack on a line at the end of the answer, something along the lines of 'If you opt out no traffic will be sent from the ISP to phorm. We should be clear: the Phorm servers are located in the ISP's network and browsing data is not transmitted outside the ISP.' So this indicates that whilst you may be able to 'opt out' from the targeting of adverts, you cannot opt out from being profiled. Further evidence of this can be found by the very fact that TalkTalk have confirmed they are looking at a switch based 'opt out' to completely bypass Phorm, this again indicates that Phorms 'Opt out' is not a real opt out. Also whilst Phorm argue that there is no degredation in service quality, we know that numerous redirects take place that will have to increase the time it takes for a page to get served to your machine (even if it is a few extra milliseconds). So to simplify, given that many people are concerned that there is no real 'Opt out' and that Internet performance maybe affected. Do you think that people do not have a right to be able to really decide for themselves if they want to use this service, do we not have a right to be able to entirely bypass Phorms systems so that our Internet access works exactly as it has always worked, with no additional redirects or data being mirrored to profilers. Phorm have never once provided any suitable answers to these and many other questions. Let me put it this way, if Phorm was introduced as an 'Opt In' system, and if I decided not to opt in and my traffic was never changed from how it works today, then I would have no problem with Phorm at all. The facts are that Phorm does not work this way, it has no 'opt out', it is trying to trick people by launching with a default 'opt-in' policy. All Phorm has to do for me is prove that I can really opt out, and that if I opt out my Internet connection is not going to be degraded. They have failed to prove these very simple things and I can't help but wonder why.