Hi Stuart,
Each ISP will choose how they best offer this to their customers. I know the boards are fully of healthy skepticism but lots of research conducted does strongly suggest many customers would like this as an automatic add-on to their package.
I hope to reassure you as in the scenario you outline, where customers have to opt in to receive webwise, if you are not opted in, no browsing data whatsoever is passed from the ISP to Phorm. We should be clear that the Phorm servers are located in the ISP's network and browsing data is not transmitted outside the ISP. Even if you are opted out (in your scenario, not opted in) websites will still show you ads (as they do now) but these will not be adverts from the OIX system and they will not be relevant to your browsing.
I hope this helps -- email me at
techteam@phorm.com with any other comments or questions. Thanks. techteam