Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797]

[adam91234]

I think this is a huge invasion of privacy.

I have just read the post and will be contacting Virgin today to voice my concerns.

N.B. Still trying to build my 20 posts

[3x2]

Originally Posted by davethejag

Hi All, Just seen this, apologies if it has been posted already. -
http://www.localtechwire.com/busines...story/2940963/

Same old same old ...

But an alternative interpretation of the nature of the cyberspace is that any advertiser may legitimately assemble information that has been transmitted on what is clearly a very public network.

Oh well if it's a public network then by all means wire tap it.
While you are there don't forget all that free content out there ready to enhance your own product - steal away we don't mind.

All the server farms and fiber optic cables that power today’s Internet are not cheap, and somebody has to pay.

I'll just tell VM that advertising will be paying my bills in future. Could I have your bank details.

The New York legislation would be a death sentence for the online business models of the future because the bill makes it illegal to record any user behaviour unless that user has granted permission to be tracked.

God forbid that you should actually have to get permission before wire tapping my private communications.

What makes me really laugh about the advertising lobby is that they still don't seem to have identified the threat to their own world from allowing a tape worm into the system.

I could be the worlds most successful share trader - it's easy. Step one - wire-tap traders / companies / competitors private communications. Step two - clean up. There's a good reason that it's illegal.

[warescouse]

Unlike home, at work our ADSL connection is BT Business. Last week and today Google maps seems very odd. I cannot get complete diagrams and I seem to get lots of TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT messages from 66.249.93.91 that does not seem to resolve to anything? Bit too busy at the moment to investigate thoroughly but seems a little odd? Any thoughts

Addendum
And 15 minutes after reporting it on the Forum everything is now working OK - Coincidence? Was consistently faulty for days prior to today!

[AlexanderHanff]

You know I don't understand why people use the iii web site. Over the past week or so I have been comparing it with other sites such as LSE, Google Finance and ADVFN and the amount of trades that iii misses is unreal.

Even today they have missed 2 trades already. So just be aware if you are checking Phorm's performance on the markets, don't use iii as it is generally incorrect. For the record the last trade so far today was 500@ 1310.00 not 1000@ 1395.00

It is almost as if Phorm are paying iii to keep the low trades off the site.

Alexander Hanff

See there we go again, they have missed the low trades and only reported the high ones... definitely something fishy going on.

[Rchivist]

Originally Posted by warescouse

Unlike home, at work our ADSL connection is BT Business. Last week and today Google maps seems very odd. I cannot get complete diagrams and I seem to get lots of TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT messages from 66.249.93.91 that does not seem to resolve to anything? Bit too busy at the moment to investigate thoroughly but seems a little odd? Any thoughts

There was BT Business platform "maintenance" last week according to the announce newsgroup.

[Tharrick]

I just got an email from 'INFSO-b1@ec.europa.eu' that is apparantly my reply from Viviane Reding.

It contains a .tif file which appears to be a scanned letter - virus scanning now (paranoid, yes :P), I'll post it once I've had a chance to peruse/censor :P




Edit:

Ok. So, due to it being multiple pages long I don't appear to be able to get them all into photoshop, so I'll have to type it all out.
It's not from Comissioner Reding, but it is apparantly from someone instructed to reply on her behalf

Originally Posted by Viviane Reding

The Comission is aware of the activities of the company Phorm in the UK, concerning the analysis of internet traffic for advertising purposes, the agreement between Phorm and major internet service providers in the UK and the concerns that have been raised about the effects on privacy of these activities. Privacy and the protection of personal data are fundamental rights of the citizens of the EU. They are enshrined in articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and also protected by the European Convention on Human Rights and the related instruments of the Council fo Europe, to which all EU Member States are signatories.

The general principles of personal data are defined in Directive 95/46/EC and complemented and particularised for electronic communications by Directive 2002/58/EC on privacy and electronic communications (ePrivacy Directive). The ePrivacy Directive obliges Member States to ensure the confidentiality of communications and related traffic data through national legislation. In particular, they shall prhobit listening, tapping, storage or other kinds of interception or surveillance of communication and the related traffic data by persons other than the users without their consent, which must be freely given, specific and informed indication of the user's wishes[1]. The data concerned in this particular matter i.e. the content of search queries, constitute communication within the meaning of this Directive and the URLs used in the packets constitute traffic data. This data should therefore be protected appropriately.

The responsibility for the enforcement of national legislation transposing EU Directives is with the competent national authorities[2]. The ICO, the UK data protection authority, has issued several statements concerning Phorm. According to press information, the ICO is also investigating in at least one case, where a formal complaint has been made concerning alleged trials of Phorm technology by BT in 2007[3].
The Comission services will continue to follow this case and possible similar developments and take appropriate action, should the need arise. The Comission confirms its commitment to the protection of privacy and security of electronic communications as one of its top priorities

1) So, as we already knew, Phorm is illegal, and very much so.
2) Apparantly our national authorities are competent - this is news to me :P
3) This, also, is news to me.

[NTLVictim]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff

You know I don't understand why people use the iii web site. Over the past week or so I have been comparing it with other sites such as LSE, Google Finance and ADVFN and the amount of trades that iii misses is unreal.

Even today they have missed 2 trades already. So just be aware if you are checking Phorm's performance on the markets, don't use iii as it is generally incorrect. For the record the last trade so far today was 500@ 1310.00 not 1000@ 1395.00

It is almost as if Phorm are paying iii to keep the low trades off the site.

Alexander Hanff

See there we go again, they have missed the low trades and only reported the high ones... definitely something fishy going on.

LSE search Phorm or phorm l or phrm not recognised.

[Ravenheart]

Originally Posted by Tharrick

I just got an email from 'INFSO-b1@ec.europa.eu' that is apparantly my reply from Viviane Reding.

It contains a .tif file which appears to be a scanned letter - virus scanning now, I'll post it once I've had a chance to peruse/censor :P

I've just had the same arrive in my inbox, I'm having a look now

EDIT: My reply is the same as the one Tharrick received

---------- Post added at 12:13 ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 ----------

Originally Posted by NTLVictim

LSE search Phorm or phorm l or phrm not recognised.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/e...%20B1WTNC4PHRM

[warescouse]

Originally Posted by R Jones

There was BT Business platform "maintenance" last week according to the announce newsgroup.

At the time Google maps were non-performing, everything else seemed to be OK although I could prove that GoogleMaps itself was OK via VMedia connection at the same time. Where did the strange IP address come from?

[Tharrick]

EDIT: My reply is the same as the one Tharrick received

Saves you a stack of typing then :P

[AlexanderHanff]

Originally Posted by Tharrick

I just got an email from 'INFSO-b1@ec.europa.eu' that is apparantly my reply from Viviane Reding.

It contains a .tif file which appears to be a scanned letter - virus scanning now (paranoid, yes :P), I'll post it once I've had a chance to peruse/censor :P




Edit:

Ok. So, due to it being multiple pages long I don't appear to be able to get them all into photoshop, so I'll have to type it all out.
It's not from Comissioner Reding, but it is apparantly from someone instructed to reply on her behalf





1) So, as we already knew, Phorm is illegal, and very much so.
2) Apparantly our national authorities are competent - this is news to me :P
3) This, also, is news to me.

Just quoted parts of that letter on the ADVFN thread and I have forwarded the info on to Chris Williams too (will do the same with Charles Arthur now).

Alexander Hanff

[Rchivist]

Originally Posted by NTLVictim

LSE search Phorm or phorm l or phrm not recognised.

http://www.lse.co.uk/ShareTrades.asp...re=phorm_reg_s

[Ravenheart]

Originally Posted by Tharrick

Saves you a stack of typing then :P

I'm a lazy cow, was going to print it then use my OCR software


This will be a handy letter to send as a follow up to my previous letters to Virgin, my MP and Barclays and the other organisations I've been in touch with.

[AlexanderHanff]

Originally Posted by Ravenheart

I'm a lazy cow, was going to print it then use my OCR software

I'm sure it's more than one page, but I can't seem to open the rest of it.

This will be a handy letter to send as a follow up to my previous letters to Virgin, my MP and Barclays and the other organisations I've been in touch with.

The TIF images need to be posted on inphormationdesk I think.

Alexander Hanff

[Tharrick]

I'd upload it here, but I have no idea how to convert a multi-page .tif into several individual-page .jpg files. Photoshop is no help here, as it only shows the first page.