Phorm.....

[kangaroozoo]

Why are people mentioning the Data Protection Act??
The Data Protection Act only covers personal and/or sensitive data that a company stores about you. Phorm will have no personal details and/or sensitive data so quoting from the DPA is pointless.

The Information Commissioners Office has stated that for this to be legal it would have to be an opt-in system. Phorm have said on a number of occasions that they initiated dialogue with the Information Commissioners Office. They fail to mention that the Information Commissioners Office told them the above and are keeping a close eye on this.

Phorm have stated that should you opt out, the cookie will expire after 2 years. Should you clear your cookies before 2 years then you will need to opt out again. Pretty pointless if you ask me. If they insist on selling this idea to the ISP's with the opt-out policy then I can see some major court cases happening.

There may also be some legal issues about them storing and/or altering webpages without prior consent of webmasters. They simply plan on removing the ads from the site and replacing them with their ads. Of course, the adspace will be sold to the highest bidder and profit will be split with the ISP. They say that if you opt out, no data will be collected. I'd like to know how. Their profiler connects to the ISP server. All traffic will be routed through the profiler.

Maybe if they were less transparent and more upfront, it might not appear to look like they're simply trying to gain the monopoly on pop-ups. I can't see them advancing too quickly with this. Their stocks dropped 85% last year and they lost over £11 million. Hopefully they'll go bankrupt before they can implement it.

[david.m]

heres an Esential guide to Phorm and how it effects you
http://www.inphormationdesk.org/Phorm_Flyer_V0.pdf

[robin9342]

I have already installed the Phorm blocker (earlier in this thread). If my ISP implements Phorm, I wonder if I will be able to leave before my contract is up?

[david.m]

the flyer is slighty revised with links now
and heres the fact sheet.

print a few of them off, and pass them to all your friends, tell them to do the same and help get the facts out.

http://www.inphormationdesk.org/Phorm_Factsheet.pdf
http://www.inphormationdesk.org/Phorm_Flyer.pdf

remember that the Phorm blocker's are only a fig leaf...

they will Not, and can Not stop this Data collection Once the DPI devices are active On the Other side Of your Broadband Wire.

Always Remember That Any Personal Information which is passed in a non https way (adding your email to a form, adding a product to a cart, writing a web based email) could also be passed to the Phorm system and tie back to your cookie meaning your UID (Unique IDentifier for a specific User of a computer system ) now has a name, perhaps even a real address attached.

It is then conceivable that if unscrupulous employees of BT/Phorm or other ISP installed DPI For Profit companies (the CRA Experian for Instance) wanted to, they could collate and extract that individual data and other sources for profit.

This is something that no-one has the ability to opt out of if the Phorm system is implemented, because you can only opt out of the behavioral ad system, and so not see any ads, however YOUR data stream is still passing through the Deep Packet inspection/Interception Device and being collected and processed etc.


Cable Forum - View Single Post - Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797]




Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797] - Page 592 - Cable Forum
Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff

If anyone is interested I am currently writing a new article summarising the last 4 months. The first 5 pages are available as a pdf here:

http://www.paladine.org.uk/phorm.pdf

I am about to take a quick break from writing and setup a gallery page on NoDPI for all these anti Phorm images, please let me know if I miss any.

Alexander Hanff.
Say NO! to Deep Packet Inspection

[Paladine]

Good to see people here discussing Phorm, I would have posted sooner but I have understandably been very busy.

Alexander Hanff

[david.m]

HI Alexander.

yes, this place was great for the old Bank charges legal points and lots of small claims charges and Data Protection Act CRA actions were talked about and actioned thanks to
BankFodder and the other great people here OC.

However in the mean time, while we have learned a lot in regards using the SC courts and so on , it doesnt seem like the old Guard are reading this Board much these days.

even though everyone taking part in that fight Obviously all have BT,VM.CPW Phorm signed ISPs, but nothing much even being mentioned here about the Interception for Profit othe rthan this one thread and i find that odd.

it seem almost impossible to gather the same kind of CAG BC community collective when it comes to Phorm and DPI used for unlawful profit matters.

and i cant seem to get BankFodder's attention the few times iv tryed Here to garner the legal minds to collect and work to every single Uk ISP users benefit as they did for the Bank charges and thats a shame.

thanks to Cable forum for collecting the webs most informative Anti Phorm/DPI thread,all is not lost, but i feel there are masses of well informed bank charges end users here that are so far untapped for the Phorm fight we may have to take to the courts sometime soon.

[2Grumpy]

My email runs in a browser, it does not include the @ sign in addresses, it does not use https, so phorm would see all of my emails.

If it's connected then it will get the information, cokies or not.

Won't they look at samples of traffic to see if they can 'improve' their product? That would include personal information.

It sounds like phorm are misrepresenting the Information Commissioner's statements just like the CRAs do - take some bits, ignore the rest.

[david.m]

just a reminder that the NoDPI BT Protest is happening this wednesday as reported.

please make the time to inform and ask your friends to do their part to help in any way they can, to assist the fellow end users coming to potentially your part of the london woods to make this stand with you for Everyones privacy rights,and help make this a very productive day.

and perhaps you might Even get to meet Baroness Miller (scheduled to speak at 1:15pm)and perhaps other members of the house of lords in person.

and as a prelude to that ,you can also hear Alexander talking to Steve about the Phorm/Webwise Interception for profit, as he's taking part in Steve Gibson's Security Now! podcast Tonight (Tuesday,7pm our time).

You can all watch the podcast on TWiT Live - Live Netcasts from TWiT with Leo Laporte and Friends as it is being recorded, and there is even a chat application embedded into the web page so you can engage the presenters as the show is being recorded.

Hope to see many of you in there.

Incidentally, Security Now! has 110 000 active listeners, so this is a good opportunity to increase your public awareness of how this wiretap on the other side of your Broadband wire potentially effects you and your familys online lives directly.

https://nodpi.org/2008/05/30/protest-at-the-barbican/
"Protest at the Barbican!
On July 16th 2008 outside the Barbican in London UK, a demonstration will be held to protest against the use of Deep Packet Inspection for the purpose of behavioural advertising (more specifically Phorm).

The protest has been timed to coincide with BT’s annual general meeting and will be held outside that AGM.

BT have announced an agreement with Phorm to deploy Deep Packet Inspection technology which has been reported as illegal by key privacy advocates, academics, peers in the House of Lords and Politicians in the UK and EU government.

BT also carried out covert trials of this technology in 2006/2007 effecting over 120 000 of their customers, without first obtaining the consent required by law.

It is planned that there will be several key speakers at the event and a website will be set up in the next week on www.nodpi.org with more information.

Confirmed Guest Speakers
Jason from UK Free Software Network will be giving a speech from the perspective of an ISP who have decided not to sign up with Phorm.

More Information
For more information please send an email to no2dpi at googlemail dot com or see the following links:
Phorm opponents to picket BT shareholders | The Register
The Phorm files | The Register
"Home Office guidance misleading" says FIPR


Author: Alexander Hanff