david, while that FF add-on might give some the false sense of security, its missing the point, that being the right to collect,process and control your personal data and ignoring the UK and EU laws etc.
as a reminder of the above regarding Simon Davies and 80/20 Thinking .
id like to point out simon Davies co-workers comment, one AKA Robin Zaker on The Register.
although we dont know his real name so only The Register and he nows for sure..
Comments on ‘Data pimping: surveillance expert raises illegal wiretap worries’ | The Register
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By Robin Zaker
Posted Wednesday 5th March 2008 14:36 GMT
With the Phorm thing, you are all wrong- if you bother to actually do your research then you'll get a different picture-
Why not be more concerned about the secretive Ellacoya or even Google's 24month profile retention?
Phorm doesn't even keep data- its trying to reverse the belief that you have to keep massive detailed profile to advertise or anything else (and I know that you hate advertising but be realistic- its not going away, especially with the 'free broadband' wars pushing profits down and out).
As one of the PI employees sent to look at Phorm (though i'm not allowed to reveal my identity (NDA)- and we feel that 'endorsed' is a bit of a strong word)
I had access to their proposed technology and I was impressed with what they are intending to do- it is in my view a step forward in what has been a downhill battle for privacy- not as private as i would want but definitely against the flow of all the other data squirrels.
Obviously you have realised that porn and the 'sensitive' material will not be read- as the system only recognises pre-defined words/matches. i'm depressed that the rest of the tech community are attacking the one thing that I thought they would consider sensible, but they are too paranoid as ever.
Ads will not be unlawfully changed-they'll just earn more for the website owner...
if you opt out then they would not legally be able to even scan your data for wordmatches- that'd be suicide so as a commercial company they wouldn't.
it's not infringing RIPA- they passed an investigation months ago..
In fact
almost all the problems that you sheep worriers have are not even slightly founded- its all misinformed-
go do proper research not wildly inaccurate speculation
Oh and the whole CHINESE SERVER thing stems from a MUPPET searching for a trace on OXI.com, what a TOOL.
The thing that depresses me most is that
you probably won't even believe an analyst like me who has actually researched the system but that is the truly depressing thing about the 'true online community'-
they spend so much time worrying where the next threat will come from they attack the wrong threats with the wrong information..."
interesting that he as a anonymous 80/20 Thinking employee under the pay of Phorm would post such comments.
and hes probably right, would YOU trust any of the so called official PIA report yet to be seen ,being under taken from such a person as this.
his reg post reveals his contempt for the very UK users that he and his company are suposeadly looking out for in this PIA?
if Phorm did in fact pass a
RIPA- investigation months ago.. were is the report and its conclusions!
could this so called investigation have been nothing more than calling up some back office clerk in the home office and laying out the Phorm proposal, much the same as we the end users have been sold it, I.E an anti fishing app and adds as a sideline?.
Phorm fires privacy row for ISPs | Media | The Guardian
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Phorm's approach, in trying to create a network from the ground up that involves ISPs, advertisers and publishers, is certainly audacious.
But one former employee told the Guardian that this typifies its approach: "I'm used to the culture of smart people, long hours and overall complexity but this was exponentially more true of Phorm.
It was a 'get a Ferrari and lose your sanity' kind of deal."
Adding that Phorm was "very serious" about anonymising data,
the former employee noted that the company has been in talks with the Home Office about whether its system would fall under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which is used for surveillance and crime prevention.
But there was also one unexplored possibility about the technology, the ex-employee noted: "The [Phorm] platform clearly has some edge-of-network technologies involved.
It would be entirely feasible for an ISP to allow customers to opt out - and subsequently throttle their service."
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its interesting that that former employee gives the impression that infact this so called complex ,secure and personal data removing and indexing app was written under extream presure and time restraints on the promise of some fancy expensive car or other bonus.
hardly inspires the average users confidance that this Phorm codebase inside the profiler and outside, is in any way 100%secure while collecting/processing your data etc is it?
Phorm..... 
