Apologies if this has already been asked. I was wondering about the effect of Phorm on websites like Bit-Tech that seem to make a substantial amount of their living from the adverts posted here. My understanding is that if Phorm start replacing your adverts, your income will plummit, and that could make life rather difficult. Is my understanding correct?
I was of the understanding that sites had to opt-in to change their sites ads based on the data this Phorm garbage collected. Could be entirely wrong, though, because I'm busy hate-mongering the piece of ****, rather than trying to understand it >.> edit: Interesting word filter there..
I doubt this thing will ever take off given the bad press it is always going to get coupled with the fact it has to be opt-in It would be a concern for bit-tech and any other website though, yes.
I don't like it, I don't like it one bit. Targeted advertising and deep packet inspection, on my Interwebs? Article posted on the BBC today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7619297.stm Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorm
ISPs screwed themselves over and I can't believe the government is allowing this... the government is basically saying the ISPs can screw content owners over in order to save themselves.
So would for example a VM customer see a different set of ads from a non-phorm isp? So VM gets the revenue from their ads and Bit gets the revenue from their own? I'm confused that sounds tantamount to stealing even more so than pirating.
I must confess, I'm a little confused about Phorm's ad front-end. I understand the technology behind it, but how are the adverts delivered? Do they replace current adverts on websites? Do they show up as popups or do they turn targeted words into ad links a la intellitext? I have a few websites that are completely advert free, and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. If a user's ISP is using Phorm, does that mean visitors to my sites will see ads that just shouldn't be there? EDIT: Meh, guess the site has to participate. http://www.phorm.com/about/introducing/phorm_priv_rev4.html
This was part of what I wasn't sure about. Thing is, from what I have seen of how BT are presenting the opt in, I suspect a lot of people are going to do it without realising what they are doing. Now for a site like Bit-Tech where most of the readers are aware of Phorm, I doubt the numbers will be so significant. Also, my understanding is that the opt-in is only for the end user, rather than the site owner. In turn, the potential for this to be classed as fraud / theft / copyright infringement struck me as being very strong. Then again, I have often found that the legal profession disagree with me
Nah - thats the point theevilelephant. Phorm sits between you and the website and replaces content as it flows between the two parties
It seems to me that even if they kept the data secure on their side, your surf habits would still be visible to others which is a bit of a privacy issue. If you share a computer with someone, you might get ads based on what they were looking at and vice versa. For example, parents getting porn ads lol
I don't think this is correct. As I understand it, the website can choose to sign up for Phorm ads in the same way that they'd choose any other company. The point of this system isn't to steal the advertising space on any website the user visits - it's to track their browsing habits (with the co-operation of their ISP) and display more relevant advertising.
Isn't that why we have google analytics? I'd be surprised if the 'anonymous' data wasn't used to help target ads better.
True, but Analytics can only track visits to sites that opt in. The Phorm system effectively acts as a proxy, so it would be capable of watching everything a user does on the net except on sites that opt out. (Though in the UK it's now an opt-in only system, so I don't think it'll take off here.)
I wondered why lemon curd was taking the place of cheesecake! OT, this Phorm malarky sounds confusing but shouldn't affect me, hopefully.
