We'll raise a glass later to the inevitable corpse of Phorm. This is not the result I really wanted; I wanted Phorm's DPI technology to be ruled illegal, unethical and BT *forced* to drop it, but this will do as an interim solution.

One down, two (VM and StalkStalk) yet to announce it has been a waste of time.

This is obviously great news, but until they have died and ceased to exist no one can afford to become complacent over the issue.

Terminator because Phorm=SkyNet.

Ditto; but the mere fact that the largest provider of broadband connections in the UK has shitcanned them is enough to provoke a qualified "YEEEEEEEEES!!!" *airpunch* . Now to get on to VM. As an aside, ""We continue to focus considerable effort on faster moving overseas opportunities. In so doing we have already minimised our dependency on the deployment by any single ISP or in any particular market," ..." sounds awfully like a postmortem muscle spasm to me...

The EU can now happily rule it illegal without commercial pressures.

Though Phorms demise will be very welcome, we really need ISP level interest based advertising to be made illegal.

I can't wait to see how this is spun on The "Un"official Phorm Weblog: http://www.stopphoulplay.com/

Just because BT aren't deploying it in the future doesn't mean that their historical actions are now legal. The case to prosecute directors that authorised illegal trials should still be chased down.

Virgin Media Bullshit #

By Anonymous Coward Posted Monday 6th July 2009 09:33 GMT

"The only people Phorm is good for is Virgin Media, everyone else loses out no matter how you spin it."

Err. Not quite. The business model proposed by Phorm offered a generous revenue share to the ISP. Which would make the difference between turning a profit and making a loss. So the result is you will continue to get crap ISP infrastructure or pay higher prices.

And presumably Google will end up doing DPI or similar to serve you targetted ads for which you and the ISP will get f--k all.

Way to go tin-foil hat brigade.

Suck on this !

See ya :)

I'm in the longest pseudo-realism dream I've ever had.

I'm currently dreaming the Wacqui is no longer Home Secretary, plans for ID cards are being scaled back, APCO and UK police forces' use of innocents' data and retention of that data is coming under scrutiny and the opposition has already pledged to reverse the trend towards a surveillance/Big Brother state. Only this morning I heard Call-me-dave Cameron arguing for a refocussing in powers at Ofcom and that's just the start.

Before I wake up from this dream I hope to see the ICO and NHTCU budgets increased tenfold, ICO being given proper powers and all the crazy intrusionistic labour ministers leave office.

Whilst this is very good news (read VERY VERY good news) I'm not sure this is the last we'll see of this sort of technology, whether in this form, or another.

There are too many vested interests and bloated ROI analysiis in the trough for the piggies to be able to keep their snouts out of for too long.

Sweet. My BT year contract was up this month and was about to leave them. Maybe I'll give them another chance.

As for Phorm, you just cling for grim life to the edge of the cliff.

I will continue to stamp on your bloody fingers till you fall.

I predict:

the collapse of Phorm,

the sale of their intellectual property to some small outfit no-one has ever heard of,

a 'rebranding' of the technology,

it's introduction on the quiet by all the major ISPs

and now watch the prosecutions roll in, oh how I'm gonna enjoy this!

anyone for coffee?

They're on the ropes. Don't stop until they are down and not getting back up.

A big thank you to New Labour for NOT defending our rights. Cheers Gordon. I wonder how long it will be before Gordon announces this as a new policy for Election. I will defend your privacy from those that seek to invade it. WOT Like New Labour

This technology is too powerful to be canned permanently. I'd echo other comments to this effect. I've been posting occasionally to the Phorm threads on El Reg, and I've consistently put my opinion forward which is that Phorm would hopefully die the death of a thousand cuts. Glad to see if come to fruition - this was one marketing tool too far.

Seriously, have you heard the way people in advertising and branding talk? Their moral compass is permanently locked at "git" - they genuinely believe that they are forwarding the sum total of human endeavour by leading people, like sheep, for their own good, into this sort of stuff.

This represents a victory in a war against a way of thinking which threatens to turn us all into monitored little consumers. More than that, the idea that we're only good for buying crap products undermines what human life should be about.

Another chance? No! Follow through and leave the phuckers, dropping the scheme now is no excuse for past actions.

Go... because that's what all their subscribers should do

"So the result is you will continue to get crap ISP infrastructure or pay higher prices."

If I had to make the choice between that and Phorm/BT/VM etc snooping on my browsing and forcing ads on me that I neither want nor need, I'd take option one every time thanks. Happily, for now at least, my ISP performs just fine at the price I'm paying. The sooner Phorm and their like die and are declared illegal the better.

still needs to follow up.. They need to keep the pressure on uk.gov - this interception technology, infact any tech serving any purpose other than delivery, should be illegal without user concent.

The trails were still illegal and a prosecution should still follow..

Concerned about this "Webwise Discover" must investigate further...

I am glad BT did not make this announcement a month ago. Then my BT contract ran out and I got my MAC. Last week I became a very happy O2 broadband user with twice the speed at less than half the price. I might have been overcome with apathy and stayed with BT if I had heard this news first!

'And presumably Google will end up doing DPI or similar to serve you targetted ads for which you and the ISP will get f--k all.

At least I can choose not to use Google in the same way I do now. So would most of the people here that had a choice. ....... We wanted to choose. PHORM took that choice from us

Second chance? really?

I suggest you give your reason for leaving as BT having a one night stand with Phorm.. an affair that ruined the marrage..

haha

I can see a Ex Phorm CEO going down the job centre very soon.

...shorting them...

Seriously though, although this is indeed good news, it would seem likely that the reason that BT are dropping Phorm is because they are currenlty haemmoraging cash like ther'es no tomorrow. Note that they haven't said that they won't deploy 'Webwise' at some point in the future. If you examine the statement they have actually made:

"we don't have immediate plans to deploy Webwise today"

You can see that their weasel-words are remarkably free from content, due to the sly use of the qualifier, 'today'.

What would actually seem most likely is that BT are seeing their share prices drop to half of what they were a year ago, and have released a press statement in order to bolster them - which seems to be having the desired effect.

But then, maybe I'm just being a cynic?

Precisely why this battle seems to have been won but the war still rages on. Complacency is the enemy right now. Tim Greening-Jackson is right (although how one would persuade an ISP to install and maintain L7 DPI kit without a profit-sharing scheme is beyond me at this juncture) with his warning that Google especially are the ones to watch. NebuAd may be dead as an entity (the London spin-off, InsightReady has sworn off DPI, but we should keep an eye on it anyway) but AudienceScience, Kindsight, Adzilla et al still seem to be alive and kicking, with many other marketing houses watching with interest. Match point will be a clear statement on EU or UK privacy and communications integrity law, and that still seems a long way off.

The war may not be over but we can be forgiven for fist-pounds, air-punches, high fives and a little smugness right now; this is the first clear victory in the 2+ years we have been fighting this. Alex Hanff , Richard Clayton, Chris Williams and El Reg especially deserve credit for this milestone for their tireless efforts to educate people about this threat to our online rights.

Take a "Privacy Pirate" cutlass up yer jacksy, Mr Ertugrul!

But I very much doubt thats the last of them or their data pimping. It's hard to understand though why BT has taken all the shit for so long and not at least tried to extract a little blood from their customers/victims.

I can't wait to see laughing boy spin this one without looking like a total prat.

BT is Phormless, then?

All thanks to you guys. If i was darn sarrrth, i'd buy you lot pints all day.

#PhormFAIL

Fan-phucking-tastic.

That is all.

great news as a BT customer im well chuffed to hear of its timely demise i can only hope it now continues a short but painful death

huzzas all round

And falling....

Oh well.

...on the freshly prepared grave of Phorm*

I like good news on a Monday.

Echoing a lot of other people here, we've still gotta watch out while the DPI genie is still out of the box and not restricted/killed by the law.

Seeing the share price tumble and tumble is such fun today - 475p on Friday....

...today, can't keep my laugh in - 290p

Mwhahahahahahahahaha..

Liquid lunch today.

"I wouldn't want to be the guy who moved from BT to Phorm, and doesn't have that bit of legal wiggle room."

Apparently you wouldn't want to name him either? I'm not so fussy.

His name is Stratis Scleparis, he was Chief Technology Officer at BT Retail at the time of the denied trials, and coincidentally he is currently employed as CTO at Phorm. His future? Who knows.

http://www.phorm.com/about/exec_scleparis.php

In the 1980s, popular beat combos that couldn't get arrested would claim that, rather than being hopeless no-marks with an audience in single figures, they were instead `big in Japan'. This was adopted, ironically, as the name of a Liverpool band that achieved some success and, if memory serves, spawned Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

The reason why claiming to be `big in Japan' worked, while `big in Germany' didn't, was that Japan was a long way away, the music press was in a language no-one understood and there were few visitors in either direction.

So, when a company claims that it doesn't need to deal with BT because it's big in South Korea...

Phorm bankruptcy in 3... 2... 1...

it in via the back door? Ooh er missus!

The fight won't be over until the fat lady sings dies and is cremated.

Plus I still want prosecutions too.