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back to article Phorm secretly tracked Americans too

Phorm has also deployed its behavioral ad targeting technologies in the US of A. Even before the London-based outfit first tracked thousands of British Telecom customers as part of its grand scheme to target online ads from inside the world's ISPs, it was "operating a number of public commercial services" on various stateside …

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  1. Gordon Pryra

    This was a level of disclosure ahead of its time...

    As in

    "We told the people we were doing it"

    As opposed to the British version

    "We broke the law and the Police can't do anything because our directors are giving their bosses money"

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  2. Graham Wood

    Using a free access point

    Isn't it common sense to assume that any free access point is most definitely unfriendly?

    Targeted ads seem to be the least of your problems, and I think I'd assume that anything I sent was going to be snooped in some way - the same as I would at a BlackHat conference, regardless of what the organisers say.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    New online petition thingy

    Please can anyone who insists on calling an ad supported service "free" receive a swift cricket bat to the side of the head.

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  4. Florence Stanfield
    IT Angle

    Trust is the main word

    You need to know you can trust thoise in a position steal your DATA.

    We trust, or used to trust the companies like BT. Phorm has never been one you could trust to many links into murky water.

    A question that had been around a few times which tended to be given a wide birth or fudged answers is.

    Question asked was to a forum member called Hamsterwheel searches link him to Phorm and he does admit to being with Phorm.

    Q. Would you agree Hammy that if the servers for webwise had a slight alteration of script the program could be programmed to retain more personal details without the customer knowing?

    A. Of course they could, but they have promised not too, and if they did and got caught they would be in all sorts of bother. They would not jeopardise their business by doing such silliness.

    We all know what temptation can do and with scriptors fro around the world including Russia just how trustworthy are they for handling this type of program linked into your ISP network where all your personal DATA is ripe for picking.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Phorms Past

    Had a little look into this a while back:

    http://badphorm.co.uk/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?5585.post

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Not sure who can claim Phorm ...

    ... as their own.

    I mean, AIM listed in London. US HQ?

    One of ours or one of theirs?

    Let's just pretend they are French, then nobody has to own up.

    Paris, because now we all agree she has Phorm.

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  7. Mark
    Thumb Up

    ‘Phorm secretly tracked Americans too’

    In that sentence the word 'secretly' is entirely redundant.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I hope the Congressmen investigate

    So Phorm's been caught with its hand in the American cookie jar and seems to be pack peddling a little. Don't worry folks it won't be as easy for them to run for it as it was last time they did a runner from over the pond. It was apparently getting a little hot under the collar for them with investigations into an alleged rootkit product associated with ContextPlus when they were known as 121Media.

    Come to think of it, why is BT operating with them. Surely BT broadband should be SQUEAKY CLEAN?

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Determining when Wi-Fi deployments occurred

    It would be possible to make a partial analysis of when different service providers where using PageSense, by looking for the damage that that system did to forum posts and its appearance in web server logs.

    http://badphorm.co.uk/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?2676

    http://badphorm.co.uk/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?2750

    For EthoStream, the ‘site’ ID you should be looking for appears to be I.ETHOS.LIVE

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  10. kain preacher

    @ac

    Please can anyone who insists on calling an ad supported service "free" receive a swift cricket bat to the side of the head.

    Well us Yanks prefer Louisville slugger, and the eco friendly tree hugger Yanks use Easton aluminum bats.

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    So ...

    ... it's

    jail and deport, airfare paid in GBP's

    or

    extradite and jail, airfare paid in USD's

    Stanstead is in Kent, isn't it?

    The coat? Either way I think he will be leaving the country.

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  12. Kilgaard
    Flame

    @kain preacher

    Please can anyone who insists on calling an ad supported service "free" receive a swift cricket bat to the side of the head.

    Well us Yanks prefer Louisville slugger, and the eco friendly tree hugger Yanks use Easton aluminum bats.

    How can anybody even remotely "eco friendly" regard an aluminum bat as a good thing? Do they have any idea what happens in the manufacturing process? Turning an entire tree into a single bat (and burning the shavings) would be more eco friendly.

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  13. kain preacher

    @By Kilgaard

    And there is the joke. Most people have no clue how much energy it takes to make virgin aluminum . Its far cheaper and echo friendlier to use recycled aluminum.

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  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As they say

    Whatever's over there will eventually come over here, and Phorm is apparently no different. Maybe the appealing possibility of US regulators showing some unexpected spine will rub off on our toothless shower.

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  15. Geoff Mackenzie

    @kain preacher

    I don't know if I can speak for the AC who made this suggestion, but certainly from my point of view you can apply whatever bat you prefer. And I'll let you have total freedom to choose which part of the liar's anatomy also.

    Please post the results on YouTube. :)

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  16. Paul Hurst
    Joke

    @Using a free access point

    "Isn't it common sense to assume that any free access point is most definitely unfriendly?"

    And my neighbour seems such a nice bloke!

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