Quote:
Originally Posted by PhormUKPRteam
Re: MI Info, we have to say we are a little confused here when it comes to your endorsement. If you take a look at the site and their terms and privacy policy you will see that Mi-Info collects and stores your personal data.
|
Hi PR Team,
Be confused no longer! Go and have a quick look in a dictionary, and look up the words "informed", "consent", and "opt-in" (if "opt-in" counts as one word). I know Kent Ertufhdisijf doesn't understand them as he's stated before that he doesn't see what the big deal is, but believe me the consent issue is part of what's getting people really wound up about the spyware your bosses are peddling.
Not that many people here would be rushing to sign up for mi-info or any other suchlike service, but as you can see from the survey and the sheer level of vitriol being spat at Phorm across the web, if people weren't being railroaded into the Phorm system then very few people would be signing up for
it either.
Quite apart from the legal issues, people object to the extremely high-handed way they have been treated over this. Working for a PR company, I'm sure (and I hope for your sakes if you intend to carry on doing PR
) you can understand how miserably Phorm and the ISPs have handled it all. Have a look at labougies post
here. Virgin are, in effect, saying that they have already got all the consent they need and there's nothing the customer can do about it, even though the customer was not aware of any intention to implement Phorm's system when they signed the contract. The customer feels powerless, duped and angry, and not without good reason.
Most people feel, quite rightly in my opinion, that the implementation of the Phorm system by their ISP involves a massive change in the relationship between the ISP and the customer, and legitimate concerns can and should not be brushed aside using Terms and Conditions which did not relate to Phorm's "service" when the customer signed up. Leaving aside whether VM's statement would stand up in court or not, surely you can see what a terrible piece of customer service that is from a PR point of view?