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

[tdadyslexia]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff

New Digg

http://digg.com/tech_news/EU_Commiss...ts_about_Phorm

Dug it!

[mark777]

The gadget show just starting on Five Life (freeview C36) is the episode with the phorm item.

[Portly_Giraffe]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/16046

Wet your whistles on that one I contacted Jon earlier today with the EU Commission replies and he has kindly done a new article based around them.

Alexander Hanff

Thanks Alexander - I've added the story to :
http://www.inphormationdesk.org/attributions.htm

under "European Commission position on Phorm"

[davethejag]

Originally Posted by mark777

The gadget show just starting on Five Life (freeview C36) is the episode with the phorm item.

Just watched it! Thanks mark777. How about somebody that recorded it putting it on YouTube?

Best to all. davethejag

[NTLVictim]

So I take it the EU department can squeeze ICO's/BT's/Phorm's balls .. timeframe if ICO goes for inaction?

And where's the reg on this??

[mark777]

Originally Posted by davethejag

Just watched it! Thanks mark777. How about somebody that recorded it putting it on YouTube?

Best to all. davethejag

I think we need to be wary about putting things on YouTube. We don't want to upset C5 as they do seem to be on the right side and have promised to come back to the issue.

This has the contact address :-

http://gadgetshow.five.tv/jsp/5gsmain.jsp?lnk=004

Perhaps people could e-mail the editorial address, congratualte them on the piece and suggest a few links for the web page. Also ask them to put it on their YouTube? Tell them it will bring a lot of hits.

I've suggested links to the petition and Inphormationdesk. Their web page needs a tidy anyway.

[SelfProtection]

Originally Posted by mark777

The gadget show just starting on Five Life (freeview C36) is the episode with the phorm item.

Be careful when viewing on line at the moment there is a current vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player!
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/29386/info

[Dephormation]

Slightly OT German snoopers 'tracked thousands of phone calls'

Rene Obermann, Deutsche Telekom's director, who was not in charge at the time, said yesterday he had sent details of the case to state prosecutors, adding that he found the allegations "shattering". "If they are confirmed, the accusations run contrary to our understanding of data protection," he said. "The consequences will be tough if misconduct is established."

Perhaps if BT get a new director, he will do the same wrt to secret trials of Phorm? Oh wait, no. They just appointed a new director didn't they? Ian Livingston.

According to The Reg

"As boss of BT Retail, Ian Livingston presided over the secret and allegedly illegal advertising profiling of tens of thousands of BT broadband customers in 2006 and 2007, in partnership with Phorm. The action has been branded "disgraceful" by MP Don Foster."

[mark777]

Originally Posted by Dephormation

Perhaps if BT get a new director, he will do the same wrt to secret trials of Phorm? Oh wait, no. They just appointed a new director didn't they? Ian Livingston.

I think they have got BT Emma lined up if plod comes knocking.

Congratulations one and all - the EU Commissioner email and associated stories are great.

On a much smaller issue (which is quite a bit less significant!) - re the BT Webwise site hosted in the US where they are capturing UK customer data (illegally according to the data protection act?) - oddly the site now still has got the contact page but it does not work when the submit form button is used. Wonder why...

http://www.webwise.bt.com/webwise/contact.php

And also, over on the BT Webwise Beta Forum there was a reply from a BT representative saying that customer data collected on the US server was covered by some US guarantee like the DPA over here... then another forum member has pointed out that Phorm and all associated companies etc are not registered (i.e. not in the same way as firms register for DPA here) - which they should be apparently.

It just gets worse eh?!

(Raises a glass and looks forward to the stock quotes tomorrow)

Well done all.

Hank

PS - I posted a letter to our local Chief Constable today. Based on the answer to the Lord Northesk's question about whom is responsible for RIPA investigations. I've quoted Hansard and the Home Office source. I've reported a crime may have been carried out and the fact that I witnessed Emma from BT, on the news on TV, saying they intercepted communications of their customers without permission or warrant. I will keep you posted on any response received.

[Rchivist]

Just to let you guys know that the hand of the BT Beta forum moderators is coming down again hard - just had an official warning for some fairly innocuous posts put on other BT Beta broadband forums to alert other users to the Webwise issue.

So I will have to be good. I've used up my nine lives so will have to abide by the rules in future. Don't want to get banned. Nevertheless the thread over there has revived recently. Don't ignore it - BT is where the action is and the 10,000 customers who are going to be trialled are there somewhere. We need to pick up at least one or two for experimentation purposes!

[mark777]

Originally Posted by R Jones

Just to let you guys know that the hand of the BT Beta forum moderators is coming down again hard - just had an official warning for some fairly innocuous posts put on other BT Beta broadband forums to alert other users to the Webwise issue.

So I will have to be good. I've used up my nine lives so will have to abide by the rules in future. Don't want to get banned. Nevertheless the thread over there has revived recently. Don't ignore it - BT is where the action is and the 10,000 customers who are going to be trialled are there somewhere. We need to pick up at least one or two for experimentation purposes!

I expect many people in this thread keep up to date with what's going on over there. I know I do.

You are all doing a great job, especially given the heavy censorship from the mods. Just having a large thread near the top of the front page is going to draw many viewers from other threads. I'm sure the message is getting out to them. I'm also sure you messed up the odd weekend just gone for a few people in BT.

[Dephormation]

Hello all,

pleased to announce (yet) another prerelease version of Dephormation is available to download.

I've added a feature to log the cookies set for a page (so you can do before/after comparisons, and capture the technical details of Phorms phraudulent cookie phorgery).

At Rob's request I've also added alerts for BT Webwise sites (currently off by default).

I've tested this version on Windows XP/FF2+3, and Linux/FF1.5.

http://www.dephormation.org.uk/prere...phormation.xpi
(nb; right click, save as, and drag into Firefox to install).

Please revert back to the current public v1.6 if you encounter problems (and let me know what went wrong!).

Its not quite subtle enough [yet] to trigger on cookie setting events, I hope to add that soon (but the Mozilla developer documentation is very poor sadly).

regards
Pete

[icsys]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff

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

Perhaps Richard Clayton would be intersted in that EU Comm reply too.
Oh and what about sending a copy to the Gadget Show?

---------- Post added at 23:33 ---------- Previous post was at 23:26 ----------

Originally Posted by mark777

I expect many people in this thread keep up to date with what's going on over there [at the BT forums]. I know I do.

You are all doing a great job, especially given the heavy censorship from the mods. Just having a large thread near the top of the front page is going to draw many viewers from other threads. I'm sure the message is getting out to them. I'm also sure you messed up the odd weekend just gone for a few people in BT.

Trying to draw a reaction over on Digital Spy is like trying to draw blood from a stone!

Still, one can do nothing but try to inform them. Perhaps my choice of thread title wasn't subtle enough?

[Portly_Giraffe]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff

Phorm shares could hit a 52 week low this week. Currently down at £12.50 (Down 8.26%)

Alexander Hanff

[EDIT] Correction 12.25 (down 10.09%) and equalling the 52 week low from last month.

Well, I sat behind Kent at the FIPR tenth anniversary seminar today. He was only there for the first session on "Surveillance, privacy and technology" even though I would have thought that the third session "The next ten years" would have interested him most. (or perhaps not ...)

At the end of this first session, Richard Clayton used the issue of behavioural advertising to illustrate the role FIPR had to play. He also delivered a withering attack on the ISPs and companies involved in it. He pointed out that under RIPA both parties had to give their consent for interceptions, that identifiers could not by definition be private since they had to be used to deliver the advertising, and that there was a significant danger of misuse of the personal information collected.

Interestingly he quoted examples of soundbyte phrases which had taken hold in other situations and which had been effective in stalling unwelcome innovations: "Frankenstein foods" for GM, and "Spy chips" for consumer RFID. Anyone on the Forum got good ideas for an equivalent soundbyte phrase for Phorm?

As for Kent, he didn't applaud Richard and left with the two young associates who were with him just after 3pm. Perhaps he had already arranged another appointment, or he didn't like what Richard said, or maybe it was that his Blackberry had told him what was happening to Phorm's stock (down from 14.00 to 12.50 in the previous ten minutes).

I also had an interesting discussion with the Earl of Northesk at the reception afterwards on Phorm and on the impact of the Internet on the political process. Here are two good quotes from his talk in the meeting itself:
"The Net should belong to society at large"
"The Internet is not just a resource, but a whole life experience"
We should be pleased to have someone with his vision and integrity on our side.

I'll put together a report of the meeting and make it available here when I get a moment later in the week.