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

OK lets keep to the topic please and stop the baiting of other CF members.

[Sirius]

Told my sister about BT-Phorm-Webwise, 1 hour and 20 mins later she has asked for her mac and is moving her broadband .

These are her words on it. They can sod off.

[Rchivist]

A warm welcome to the 45 guests who are here this afternoon. Welcome to this thread, focussed firmly on the topic of Phorm, Webwise, and Advertising. We hope you find the discussion informative although it can get quite confusing at times.


The news over the last day or two has mostly been around website copyright with some significant legal cases in the headlines that may have a bearing on the Webwise/Phorm model for intercepting traffic between website visitors and website, involving as it does, copying and then exploiting for commercial gain, the intellectual content of web pages.

There have also been developments relating to copyright questions around the licensing of Open Source software that may also have a bearing on Webwise.

Encouragingly the debate about Phorm has started to widen, with the issues being raised in the US Congress, and the EU and beginning to get coverage in mainstream media. Our government is overdue with it's answers to a series of questions from the EU Commission, about the covert and probably illegal trials of Webwise in 2006 and 2007 by BT. It also seems that Webwise was covertly trialled in the US in 2005. All these trials apparently took place without the consent of the ISP customers who whose data traffic was being intercepted and profiled.

Visitors new to the topic can find a few useful links in my post 11849

We hope you will return and even better, participate in the debate, and begin to campaign against this intrusive new technology.

If you run a business or run an e-commerce site have a look at this Open Letter.
If you simply use the internet as a (hopefully) private citizen, read this flyer. Feel free to distribute these around your friends and contacts if you agree with their contents.

[SelfProtection]

I seems that Phorm may know a bit more Internal BT Information than BT intended?

http://beta.bt.com/bta/forums/thread...=1740&tstart=0

[Dephormation]

Petition; 16,994

[AlexanderHanff]

Here you all go:

https://nodpi.org/2008/08/15/city-of...ed-to-enforce/

Alexander Hanff

[phormwatch]

Alex's report is up:

https://nodpi.org/2008/08/15/city-of...ed-to-enforce/

---------- Post added at 17:57 ---------- Previous post was at 17:47 ----------

Alex-

Maybe you should write to the EU and let them know that the authorities can't or won't even properly interpret their own laws?

[AlexanderHanff]

Originally Posted by phormwatch

Alex-

Maybe you should write to the EU and let them know that the authorities can't or won't even properly interpret their own laws?

I will be contacting Commissioner Reding on Monday.

Alexander Hanff

[Rchivist]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff

Here you all go:

https://nodpi.org/2008/08/15/city-of...ed-to-enforce/

Alexander Hanff

My take on the first call Alex, is that until you mentioned RIPA, he didn't seem actually have a single fact about the issue to hand. When you mentioned RIPA he then used a stock answer - "RIPA doesn't cover BT".
When you rang the second time, he didn't seem to know about the contents of your email.

There was every evidence there of a lack of acquaintance with the detail, which may have led to the clear reluctance to discuss the detail during the call, rather requesting everything in writing - surely he already HAD the case file with everything in writing? Or maybe not....

I really do wonder how much of the file or the email had been read.

I think this sounds extremely hopeful, although it must have been irritating for you personally. It's going to be a slow slow job, but this one will run through to the bitter end, with a lot of public humiliation for various people who have been unwise enough to make assumptions about the guillibility of the public.

What the police seem to have done, is invite the glare of the spotlight to shine brightly on the whole investigation. Not a clever move. It's going to have to be a broadly focussed spotlight, to include them and all the BT executives who are potentially liable for the actions taken by them in 2006 and 2007 - but it will do us no harm for the whole thing to attract more media attention.

Well done Alex. It's going according to plan IMHO.

[phormwatch]

Nicholas Bohm of the FIPR might be interested as well.

Meanwhile, the rest of us should contact the press and link to the article, methinks...

arstechnica seems like a likely candidate...

---------- Post added at 18:18 ---------- Previous post was at 18:16 ----------

arstechnica has been contacted.

[AlexanderHanff]

Originally Posted by phormwatch

Nicholas Bohm of the FIPR might be interested as well.

Meanwhile, the rest of us should contact the press and link to the article, methinks...

arstechnica seems like a likely candidate...

---------- Post added at 18:18 ---------- Previous post was at 18:16 ----------

arstechnica has been contacted.

Feel free to Digg it and Slashdot it. I am off to work shortly.

Alexander Hanff

Three words...

Police Complaints Commission.

[AlexanderHanff]

Originally Posted by Peter N

Three words...

Police Complaints Commission.

Four words...

Independent Police Complaints Commission </pedant>

Alexander Hanff

[phormwatch]

I've been doing the rounds... anyone have a Slashdot account?

[Ravenheart]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff

Feel free to Digg it and Slashdot it. I am off to work shortly.

Alexander Hanff

Someone beat me to it

http://digg.com/security/City_of_Lon...d_privacy_laws

Remember to cut and pate this link into your browser, or it gets buried