[lucevans]

Bit-by-bit, Phorm's CEO and other employees have admitted that even with an explicit opt-out, all our webpages will still pass through the hardware that Phorm are installing in our ISPs infrastructure, and that hardware is the place that data anaylsis will be done on the content of our web browsing. Regardless of whether the result of that data analysis is used to serve adverts or stored anywhere, people must realise that once this genie is out of the bottle, there's no putting it back.
By this I mean that once the ISPs networks have had packet analysis hardware installed throughout, then it becomes possible in the future for the company that controls that hardware to change the nature of what is does. We have assurances that the current software installed in these boxes goes out of it's way to collect no personally-identifiable information, but it is just that - software.
The thing about software is that it can be upgraded, changed and even replaced with completely different software, and should Phorm decide to chance their arm in the future (or, more likely, the government changes data protection laws to allow more intrusion) it's a very simple task to change that software and instantly start to do something much more sinister with our browsing data. Indeed, Phorm have already hinted at this with statements about adding "functionality" in the future.
Of course, should other legislation be passed in the future regarding state-monitoring of our web activities, the physical infrastructure to do this will already be in place, thanks to Phorm.