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Originally Posted by PhormUKPRteam
Seeing as there aren't really separate threads in this discussion, thought this might be of interest to the main group here, especially in light of the privacy comments being made. Today's ICO survey ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7304455.stm) on data protection highlights why the Phorm system is actually an improvement in online privacy. |
How on earth does an article that doesn't even mention Phorm highlight why it is actually an improvement? All that article does is highlight that people shouldn't trust strange organisations with their data.
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We don't store any personally identifiable information so there is nothing to lose. We can't accidently reveal what we don't have unlike the ad targeting systems of other major Internet companies which retain identifiable personal data for over 12 months before it is even anonymised.
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Two important points here: First, regardless of what you say, Phorm
has to store data that is personally identifiable. It would take a hacker a while, and two hacks, but your info can be linked to the random number used, therefore, the profile stored is accessible. If the system couldn't link data in that way, Phorm would not be able advertise to the user.
Second point, and one that the Phorm PR has totally ignored: Yes, other systems do store profiling data. But, they are OPT IN. They can also be easily blocked, even if you haven't opted out (I have still seen no actual proof that the Phorm system ignores data if the user has opted out). Finally, these system reward the user for their use. Google does target ads, but they don't count that as a reward. No, they provide free email (with potentially unlimited storage), free software (Google Earth, Picasa to name two), a news aggregation system and a comprehensive search engine. What does Phorm reward it's users with? Oh yeah, targetted ads (which I don't consider a benefit) and anti phishing protection (which is already provided by every recent browser apart from Safari).
Oh, and you may argue that Phorm has good protection (and bearing in mind the links to Russian Military intelligence of some of the programmers, I'd be surprised if it wasn't good), but the phorm system would still provide a series of nice "honeypots" to attract hackers (think of how many sets of credit card details the average hacker could get if they successfully hacked the Phorm system and implanted a nice little trojan just before the Anonymising process).