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

tarka · 22-07-2008, 10:11

I too have already started boycotting dabs since I found out they are owned by BT.

Again I have lagged behind a bit so apologies but I'm picking up on the mention of cookies earlier in the thread.

Another "anti-competitive" thought I had on this whole sorry saga surrounds cookies. Now this is just a thought, I am not saying that they will do this... it's purely hypothetical.

We know that the device that intercepts your requests strips out the forged cookies that they create. What is to stop them stripping out any cookies from competing ad networks? Eg doubleclick, google etc. I'm not saying that I approve of the other ad networks but there is definately an unfair advantage to be gained by doing so.

Also, (catching up again) there was suggestion that they do not actually tamper with the data stream because the processing gets performed on a mirrored copy of the page (at least in the latest known version of the system). Would the setting of forged cookies then stripping them out not count as modifying the data stream? (even though it is invisible to the website the user is visiting)

22-07-2008, 10:11	#12478
tarka Inactive Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 86	Re: Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797] I too have already started boycotting dabs since I found out they are owned by BT. Again I have lagged behind a bit so apologies but I'm picking up on the mention of cookies earlier in the thread. Another "anti-competitive" thought I had on this whole sorry saga surrounds cookies. Now this is just a thought, I am not saying that they will do this... it's purely hypothetical. We know that the device that intercepts your requests strips out the forged cookies that they create. What is to stop them stripping out any cookies from competing ad networks? Eg doubleclick, google etc. I'm not saying that I approve of the other ad networks but there is definately an unfair advantage to be gained by doing so. Also, (catching up again) there was suggestion that they do not actually tamper with the data stream because the processing gets performed on a mirrored copy of the page (at least in the latest known version of the system). Would the setting of forged cookies then stripping them out not count as modifying the data stream? (even though it is invisible to the website the user is visiting)