check out: BBC NEWS | Technology | BT advert trials were 'illegal' roost, chickens and come home spring to mind!

I just read the article and hats off to The Guardian. Obviously when they looked into all the aspects of the system and took off the free rose tinted glasses that was handed to them by Phorm, they have subsequently seen the errors of their ways. I will renew my subscription.

Conniff, I don't disagree with you but using the same analogy as before, whether my house address is private or personal, I still don't think it is right to allow my postman to open up all my personal mail and have the opportunity of seeing all my bank details. If I subsequently find out that this same postman has used 'dubious' methods in the past to do this (aka 121 Media), I certainly hope that some legal act or another protects me from this happening before, now and also in the future. This is why people have to be educated about this now and fight this product. The way this product is being put to market is using a well known spyware method of gaining access to your PC. You are promised something (aka Webwise) that will benefit you FOR FREE (anti phishing filters etc) and when download and run the application you could get a lot more potentially harmful things you were not expecting going on behind the scenes. In the case of Phorm's Webwise you don't even have to download anything, although you can if you so wish! The method used is interception of all your private data with the aid of your ISP. This is effectively a wire tap and very cleverly promoted by Phorm (aka 121 Media) to make it appear as a benefit to the consumer. I'm am sure Phorm would rather had slipped this in under the curtain. Now they want to be 'open and honest', I wonder why. Was their nasty PeopleOnPage browser popup when they operated under 121 Media 'open and honest' as well?

Conniff, I tend to agree in parts but I have already sending a letter to Virgin Media quoting Section 11 of the act and informing them of my objections. I certainly hope to find out a little more of their intentions. The think tank Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) gave a boost to people who think it is wrong by recently saying that intercepting web traffic in the way Phorm intends to, is illegal under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. I also feel there is a difference between interception of all data at an ISP for marketing purposes (or for any reason good or bad) compared to the cookie driven tracking which I can easily clear from my browser. I hate all forms of on-line advertising. and if my ISP wants to get involved with a company whose past is so 'dubious' well I suppose I will have to vote with my feet. I liken the proposed system to that of my postman opening all my mail and collating items which are of interest so that garbage junk mail fliers we all get sent, are specifically tailored to my 'perceived' interest. I hate them all anyway! Of course the postman (ex spyware master) promised not to remember all my personal credit card numbers, bank details etc. ... Yeah

I have read as lot about Phorm and its potentially invasive techniques. ISP's who agree to use Phorm's 'webwise' application in my opinion are acting disgracefully. Phorm's owners changed their name not too long ago. They used to be known as 21 Media. This company wrote items classified as spyware which used invasive techniques to lodge within a persons PC. It was a nightmare to remove from the PC and users who had this on their system likened it to a virus. It was written by some of the same people who are now involved with Phorm's webwise product as it is known. I urge everyone to educate themselves about this product and form an opinion. I think it contravenes the data protection act. Especially as BT have been performing trials of the product without its customers knowledge. As far as I am concerned this in itself is open to legal action. When people opt in for this product (and perhaps even opt out), all broadband users data is routed to Phorm's servers located within your same ISP where every bit of the data could be analysed. Of course these ex spyware writers assure us that they will ignore everything we think could be invasive of our privacy in response to concerns. It is equivalent to your postman opening up every letter you send, analyse the contents and selecting items he considers interesting for future marketing data. The postman (ex spyware master) promises to ignore or forget about sensitive information contained, credit card information etc. because he respects your privacy . Yeah.....