[ziggycat]

Had a reply back from the APWG.

Mr. Evans,




We are wrapping up our in-person APWG meeting in Tokyo Japan this week. This is on the agenda for discussion today.


The rationale for allowing Phorm to join APWG is:
1. they work with major legitimate ISPs including BT and Virgin Media.
2. part of their offering is a security service to prevent consumers from visiting known phishing sites.
3. they claim to adhere to a privacy and anonymity policy that is audited by Ernst and Young.


APWG membership is open to companies who are ISPs or who provide security software or services to them. The fact that a company also provides advertising does not disqualify them from APWG membership. We have ISPs who are members of APWG who also provide advertising to their customers (eg. Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink). This does not prevent them from being APWG members and protecting their users.


The previous use of adware by the company is of concern, and will be a topic of discussion.


Thanks,
David Jevans
Chairman, APWG

APWG,

I would like to express my concern on your recent announcement that Phorm Inc. have been allowed to join the APWG.
This company has a known history (previously 121media) of using rootkit technology to deploy adware, I would therefore ask you reconsider allowing them membership to your association..

Your membership eligibility states. Quote;
"Membership is open to qualified financial institutions, online retailers, ISPs, the law enforcement community, security solutions providers and research institutions"

I don't see where Phorm Inc. falls into any of these categories.

The bottom line to this announcement is it undermines the association's credibility in the public eye. There is currently a very active online community of people who object to Phorm's use of deep packet inspection technology to intercept data and profile them based on browsing habits.

It is yet to be proved that what Phorm are proposing to do is even legal under several acts including privacy and DPA.

I urge you to further investigate this company and its history, to make an informed decision rather than a financial one, and to see beyond Phorm's PR spin.

Regards,