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

03-07-2008, 22:09

Coverage of this issue has been rather sparse in the general media - in my opinion that's because the publishers have a vested interest in the advertising revenue - but BT shareholders are exactly as likely to have seen the reports as anyone else in the UK including all of us on these forums.

As a cross section of the community it goes without saying that there are going to be BT shareholders with insight into the issues and opinions to match. It's equally likely that there are BT staff at all levels who have opinions that are not dictated by their employment.

Considering that only a few dozen people are active on these forums you would expect that to equate to maybe less than one whole person taking the number of BT shareholders relative to the general population so don't be too surprised or disappointed if there is no obvious show of support from amongst the shareholders.

It's important to keep in mind that there are three separate strands to this situation.

BT - imminet trials and roll-out expect this year.
VM & CW - positive interest shown but hanging back to see if BT get screwed
All of the other ISPs - certain to want a slice of the pie once they know that they won't get shot down in flames.

Phorm may be in our sights but it is the ISPs that are the problem. We could see Phorm and Webwise go under only to see NebuAd or some other company move in with an identical product and a better line in spin.

We need get to the core issues and force this governement to impliment legislation that sets the limits on what ISPs can do in the short to medium term regardless of whether or not that invoves Phorm.

Without legislation directly created to address the issue of internet privacy and content copyright we will be stuck in limbo and all we will have is the ISPs "le le legal" statements and the extremely expensive and risky opportunity to bring a civil case against some huge multi-national like BT.

I would suggest that it doesn't matter one jot what the BT shareholders themselves think. At the absolute extreme of the scale, the most that they could do is get rid of the current Board of Directors at BT. That will not be enough to prevent BT and the other ISPs from chasing the money monster now or in the near future.

Aim high - the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the High Court. Everything else is just pants.

03-07-2008, 22:09	#11074
Peter N Guest Location: Gloucestershire Posts: n/a	Re: Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797] Coverage of this issue has been rather sparse in the general media - in my opinion that's because the publishers have a vested interest in the advertising revenue - but BT shareholders are exactly as likely to have seen the reports as anyone else in the UK including all of us on these forums. As a cross section of the community it goes without saying that there are going to be BT shareholders with insight into the issues and opinions to match. It's equally likely that there are BT staff at all levels who have opinions that are not dictated by their employment. Considering that only a few dozen people are active on these forums you would expect that to equate to maybe less than one whole person taking the number of BT shareholders relative to the general population so don't be too surprised or disappointed if there is no obvious show of support from amongst the shareholders. It's important to keep in mind that there are three separate strands to this situation. BT - imminet trials and roll-out expect this year. VM & CW - positive interest shown but hanging back to see if BT get screwed All of the other ISPs - certain to want a slice of the pie once they know that they won't get shot down in flames. Phorm may be in our sights but it is the ISPs that are the problem. We could see Phorm and Webwise go under only to see NebuAd or some other company move in with an identical product and a better line in spin. We need get to the core issues and force this governement to impliment legislation that sets the limits on what ISPs can do in the short to medium term regardless of whether or not that invoves Phorm. Without legislation directly created to address the issue of internet privacy and content copyright we will be stuck in limbo and all we will have is the ISPs "le le legal" statements and the extremely expensive and risky opportunity to bring a civil case against some huge multi-national like BT. I would suggest that it doesn't matter one jot what the BT shareholders themselves think. At the absolute extreme of the scale, the most that they could do is get rid of the current Board of Directors at BT. That will not be enough to prevent BT and the other ISPs from chasing the money monster now or in the near future. Aim high - the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the High Court. Everything else is just pants.