Quote:
Originally Posted by none
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The same thought occured to me as I read through the replies on the bbc site
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7283333.stm
"Q: And does the service ever modify information you receive via http that might not be a web-page, i.e. is it possible for it to accidentally break applications that rely on http for communication, especially if those applications work in a way that Phorm didn't anticipate?
A.We operate a whitelist of user-agents corresponding to major browsers (e.g. Firefox, IE, Opera). Other user-agents are ignored."
So, if I were to use something like Privoxy to alter the user-agent string in my http-headers to something obscure or even none-existent, would that stop Phorm from tracking me? Granted this may cause problems on some websites, but I can easily switch this on/off as required.
Still, the onus is yet again on the end user to find a way around the system, which is not how it should be.
On a similar note, also taken from the bbc article,
"Q: If two people use a shared computer - how will Phorm ensure that a surprise, e.g. a partner researching wedding venues, is not ruined when the other partner next uses the computer and is bombarded with adverts for dresses and rings?
A: Most people have a separate login if they are sharing a computer and they will therefore have a separate random number. But also, advertisers using our system can choose to show ads based on the page they are visiting, recently visited, or a longer term basis. Only the last of these would be affected if the computer and the login were share, so this scenario if possible but not that likely. If the person really wants to hide a surprise, they can switch webwise off!"
In other words, it's not Phorm's fault if this happens, but it's either the advertisers fault or *my* fault for not setting up seperate logins!