Peter N

I like the bit at the end of that report...

The TrustE numbers cited by eMarketer said that only 12.6 percent of respondents said that more than a quarter of the targeted ads they were delivered were relevant.

I just spent a month chosing a guitar - I researched various models online and I checked lots of stores for availability, price and their customer service policies. I travelled a lot of miles to various stores until I found THE guitar. It was time consuming but it was also a part of the fun and along the way I joined a couple of forums and now have some new friends in America, Canada, Sweden and the UK who I am in touch with regularly.

In Phorm's version of the future I would have been told which guitar to buy, which shop to buy it from and how much to pay. I would not have uncovered any of the wonderful shops and websites that I found by chance or by following random links and I would have had a lot less fun then I did by "window shopping" the net.

To then find out that Phorm had been pushing me towards buying (cos that's what it's all about) the most unsuitable guitar from the dearest shop with a six month back-order and no returns policy would be rather annoying.

I like serendipity and I don't want to see the internet turned into just another High St with the same old shops and the same old coffee houses and absolutely no character. I certainly don't want to sit around waiting to be told what to think.