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

[warescouse]

Little Rant.

Now that things have quietened down a little since this afternoon I would like to make an observation. The Gentleman or Lady who seemed to be just provoking a merry-go-round of comments from the anti Phorm majority on this forum I feel had an agenda. I suspect that agenda was to provoke exactly what happened this afternoon which was lots of arguments which got us nowhere and was equivalent to a hamster running on a wheel going nowhere.

Anybody who at that moment in time was to go to this forum and make some sort of informed decision on the Phorm issue and evaluate its its critics would not have perceived a good impression of the standard of the anti phorm debate that is normally present here.

I think we should be ready for this type of behaviour and treat it a bit more wisely. If what I believe to be true, actually happened as described above, there would have been a reason for this occurring and we certainly fell into any trap that was carefully planned.

The best way to deal with your perceived enemy is to treat it with respect and not fall into bog standard reactionary behaviour which feeds only their argument. Now and again we should maintain the element of surprise and there were not many surprises today. To win the battle we must prepare, be positive and not react like headless chickens when provoked. By all means we should react but I felt as more and more silly arguments were thrown into the discussion by the person in question we should have spotted this far more quickly than we did and just ignore it or sever the discussion quickly if we are going nowhere.

There is enough informed fact contained within this forum for anybody to judge the issue in our favour. Lets make this information easier to find.

[JackSon]

Phorm ought to feel flattered and chuffed with NebuAd's latest action which imitates them somewhat. They thought "we need spyware people, just like Phorm have".

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/20/nebuad_claria/

Originally Posted by mark777

Do we have a definitive list of BT lies and misleading comments? Ditto Phorm.

It would be useful to send to MP's, Europe etc.

We would need dated, verifiable evidence of the porky, then dated, verifiable evidence of the truth.

There would be 'plain English' porkies and 'technical' porkies.

EDIT : I shall try to put one together over the next few days and would appreciate any input.

Have a look at BT Community Forums:

BT Webwise FAQ

and the "locked" thread from March 4th:

The original Q&A Thread with answers by Adam Liversage

Both of these contain statements by BT which can be construed as official...

[NTLVictim]

Originally Posted by warescouse

Little Rant.

Now that things have quietened down a little since this afternoon I would like to make an observation. The Gentleman or Lady who seemed to be just provoking a merry-go-round of comments from the anti Phorm majority on this forum I feel had an agenda. I suspect that agenda was to provoke exactly what happened this afternoon which was lots of arguments which got us nowhere and was equivalent to a hamster running on a wheel going nowhere.

Anybody who at that moment in time was to go to this forum and make some sort of informed decision on the Phorm issue and evaluate its its critics would not have perceived a good impression of the standard of the anti phorm debate that is normally present here.

I think we should be ready for this type of behaviour and treat it a bit more wisely. If what I believe to be true, actually happened as described above, there would have been a reason for this occurring and we certainly fell into any trap that was carefully planned.

The best way to deal with your perceived enemy is to treat it with respect and not fall into bog standard reactionary behaviour which feeds only their argument. Now and again we should maintain the element of surprise and there were not many surprises today. To win the battle we must prepare, be positive and not react like headless chickens when provoked. By all means we should react but I felt as more and more silly arguments were thrown into the discussion by the person in question we should have spotted this far more quickly than we did and just ignore it or sever the discussion quickly if we are going nowhere.

There is enough informed fact contained within this forum for anybody to judge the issue in our favour. Lets make this information easier to find.

Agree entirely...mouth shut, ignore button on.

Originally Posted by warescouse

Little Rant.

Now that things have quietened down a little since this afternoon I would like to make an observation. The Gentleman or Lady who seemed to be just provoking a merry-go-round of comments from the anti Phorm majority on this forum I feel had an agenda. I suspect that agenda was to provoke exactly what happened this afternoon which was lots of arguments which got us nowhere and was equivalent to a hamster running on a wheel going nowhere.

Anybody who at that moment in time was to go to this forum and make some sort of informed decision on the Phorm issue and evaluate its its critics would not have perceived a good impression of the standard of the anti phorm debate that is normally present here.

I think we should be ready for this type of behaviour and treat it a bit more wisely. If what I believe to be true, actually happened as described above, there would have been a reason for this occurring and we certainly fell into any trap that was carefully planned.

The best way to deal with your perceived enemy is to treat it with respect and not fall into bog standard reactionary behaviour which feeds only their argument. Now and again we should maintain the element of surprise and there were not many surprises today. To win the battle we must prepare, be positive and not react like headless chickens when provoked. By all means we should react but I felt as more and more silly arguments were thrown into the discussion by the person in question we should have spotted this far more quickly than we did and just ignore it or sever the discussion quickly if we are going nowhere.

There is enough informed fact contained within this forum for anybody to judge the issue in our favour. Lets make this information easier to find.

Yeah you're right

However at one point I was convinced I was talking to someone who looks like this:

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

Which was when, for me at least, things started to get much more interesting and I got totally sidetracked...

[tarka]

Originally Posted by Paul Delaney

My work requires me to run both Internet Explorer 6 and 7

Not sure if you are aware but microsoft supply a free XP virtual pc image with ie6 on to aid with web development. They also supply XP images with IE7 and IE8 aswell as Vista images. Virtual pc is free aswell.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

I've used the xp/ie6 image myself for a while now and it works fine. You can install all of the latest updates without having to lose the ability to run IE6.

EDIT: Although it says the images expire in september, they do make new images available before the existing ones "time out".

[roadrunner69]

Originally Posted by warescouse

Little Rant.

Now that things have quietened down a little since this afternoon I would like to make an observation. The Gentleman or Lady who seemed to be just provoking a merry-go-round of comments from the anti Phorm majority on this forum I feel had an agenda. I suspect that agenda was to provoke exactly what happened this afternoon which was lots of arguments which got us nowhere and was equivalent to a hamster running on a wheel going nowhere.

Anybody who at that moment in time was to go to this forum and make some sort of informed decision on the Phorm issue and evaluate its its critics would not have perceived a good impression of the standard of the anti phorm debate that is normally present here.

I think we should be ready for this type of behaviour and treat it a bit more wisely. If what I believe to be true, actually happened as described above, there would have been a reason for this occurring and we certainly fell into any trap that was carefully planned.

The best way to deal with your perceived enemy is to treat it with respect and not fall into bog standard reactionary behaviour which feeds only their argument. Now and again we should maintain the element of surprise and there were not many surprises today. To win the battle we must prepare, be positive and not react like headless chickens when provoked. By all means we should react but I felt as more and more silly arguments were thrown into the discussion by the person in question we should have spotted this far more quickly than we did and just ignore it or sever the discussion quickly if we are going nowhere.

There is enough informed fact contained within this forum for anybody to judge the issue in our favour. Lets make this information easier to find.

I am ashamed to say that I too fell for the goading. Sorry all, at my age I should know better.

“To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others”
Budda

[warescouse]

Originally Posted by Paul Delaney

Yeah you're right

However at one point I was convinced I was talking to:
cut..

Which was when, for me at least, things started to get much more interesting and I got totally sidetracked...

I'm sure the Israeli scientist that blew the whistle on the Nuclear capability of the said mentioned who was swept of his feet by a sexy Israeli agent would totally agree with you. He was persuaded to go for a romantic meeting abroad and was subsequently captured and taken for trial.

The best weapon is the female 'phorm'.

Originally Posted by tarka

Not sure if you are aware but microsoft supply a free XP virtual pc image with ie6 on to aid with web development. They also supply XP images with IE7 and IE8 aswell as Vista images. Virtual pc is free aswell.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

I've used the xp/ie6 image myself for a while now and it works fine. You can install all of the latest updates without having to lose the ability to run IE6.

EDIT: Although it says the images expire in september, they do make new images available before the existing ones "time out".

I forgot about that - I downloaded the full free Virtual PC 2007 to use in Vista only to find it can only run in Business or Ultimate Editions (not my lowly Home Premium). Having just checked it is XP Pro compatible too.

I think it's only the Vista image that expires in September...

I'll grab that and have a play with it later - thanks

[gnilddif]

Originally Posted by mark777

Do we have a definitive list of BT lies and misleading comments? Ditto Phorm.

Here's a good one:

Mar 7 2008 Adam Liversage on the BT Beta Webwise Q&A thread
http://www.beta.bt.com/bta/forums/th...rt=60&tstart=0
<quote>We do not and cannot access any information you store on your computer. We also do not pass any data to any third party.</quote>

Now an email to me, in response to a BTWebwise website submission, from "bt.webwise.help.desk@bt.com" dated 13 March 2008
<quote, edited xxxxx for security)>
Dear xxxxx

Thank your for your email and apology in delay in responding.

...<snip tedious Knut cant>...

I hope that this response allays the concerns that you have expressed.
Please note that BT Webwise service will not be available for BT Retail
Business customers.

-----Original Message-----
From: marketing@phorm.com [mailto:marketing@phorm.com]
Sent: 05 March 2008 19:24
To: marketing@phorm.com
Subject: BT.webwise.com Contact Request

*** This email came from a bt.webwise.com contact submission on Wed 5
Mar 14:23:34 EST 2008. ***

Title: X
First name: <my real first name>
Last name: <my real surname>
ISP: BT
Email: <my primary bt email address>
Phone:
User type: Unknown User

Questions or comments:
I wish to ensure that no browsing history whatsoever is available to
your insidious snooping. Is www.oix.net the only URL that I must set
cookie-controls to reject?
</quote>

note the EST date stamp in the body text.And in the headers note the "FW" in <quote>Subject: FW: BT.webwise.com Contact Request</quote> Gosh, I wonder who "BTWebwise" forwarded my email to

Btw that little matter of data-leaking has been reported to the ICO

gnilddif

[warescouse]

Originally Posted by Paul Delaney

I forgot about that - I downloaded the full free Virtual PC 2007 to use in Vista only to find it can only run in Business or Ultimate Editions (not my lowly Home Premium). Having just checked it is XP Pro compatible too.

I think it's only the Vista image that expires in September...

I'll grab that and have a play with it later - thanks

I have tried VMware products and they are excellent but I believe http://www.virtualbox.org/ Virtualbox is also worth a look.

Originally Posted by warescouse

The best weapon is the female 'phorm'.

He he

I'll remember that

[NTLVictim]

Originally Posted by Paul Delaney

Yeah you're right

However at one point I was convinced I was talking to:


Päivi Vahervirta

Which was when, for me at least, things started to get much more interesting and I got totally sidetracked...

Has to be done...

"
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Pony trekking or camping,
Or just watching TV.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
It's the country for me.
You're so near to Russia,
So far from Japan,
Quite a long way from Cairo,
Lots of miles from Vietnam.
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Eating breakfast or dinner,
Or snack lunch in the hall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
You're so sadly neglected
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad.
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
Finland has it all.

Composer: Michael Palin
Author: Michael Palin
Arranger: John Du Prez
Lead Singer: Michael Palin"

...in quotes, you'll note.

[Dephormation]

Originally Posted by warescouse

The best weapon is the female 'phorm'.

I must say, before this goes any further, I don't believe there are any grounds for linking that poor lady with Phorm. A search for her name and Phorm in Google brings back a wholly misleading search result, which actually refers to Virasb Vahidi. TBH I'd recommend you delete posts which include her name (unless there is a link I don't know about).

On the other hand, I do think there is a reason to finnish with the Hamsterman (Hamsterwoman?), but tbh I'd prefer we get back on with the urgent business of leaving scorched earth beneath Phorm.

Originally Posted by warescouse

I have tried VMware products and they are excellent but I believe http://www.virtualbox.org/ Virtualbox is also worth a look.

Looks a bit like VMware Workstation (I've got an old version of that).

It looks promising though - as long as it does drag n drop between desktop and the VM window it should be ok.