August was a quiet month
Eagerly awaiting the "NebuAd and Phorm are dead" headline.
The founder of NebuAd, the company best described as the US version of Phorm, has quit as its CEO. With a Valley background at stalwarts such as Juniper Networks and Symantec, Bob Dykes was seen as lending the firm industry credibility. Public resistance and regulatory scrutiny in the US and UK have now put the future of the …
"It’s a shame Dykes left because unlike the CEO of Phorm, a U.K firm touting a similar business model, Dykes actually struck me as a legitimate businessman."
from here.
http://gigaom.com/2008/09/02/nebuad-loses-ceo-wont-admit-defeat/
See people don't think Kent is a legitimate businessman, much like Phorm is not legit.
It was indeed a quiet month in August - one reason being that BT seemed committed to preventing discussion of a whole basketful of subjects on their BT Business forums. Webmasters wanting to discuss issues such as website copyright, behavioural tracking, and intellectual property protection were told in no uncertain terms that such subjects were either inflammatory of off-topic and the mods hit the delete button, and in several cases, the BAN button - not for abusive behaviour but for mentioning certain webhosting issues that concerned them.
BT Webwise seems to be the product that dare not speak its name.
Why so quiet BT?
Where DO BT Domains business customers go to discuss website copyright and cookie forgery - obviously not on the forum supposedly devoted to their needs, where the guidelines say: "The purpose of this site is to provide a place for BT Business Customers to help each other by building up a helpful support community and knowledge base on all aspects of their BT Business products and services. This website is by customers, for customers. "
There is a thread on the BT Business Forums which as not yet been censored/deleted:
http://btb.lithium.com/btb/board/message?board.id=NonBT&thread.id=8
I encourage users to participate.
It talks about copyright violation and customer stealing using DPI technologies. Phorm is not specifically mentioned, but NebuAd is.
I hate to see a man get beat down for trying to make a dollar. Just think, he's probably an OK guy, but he's never gotten the recognition he 'deserved' from Juniper or Symantec. Here comes NebuAd and offers him the fame, power, and money he deserves - how could you say no? All he has to do is dry fuck every web user in the States. Certainly he can handle it.
Screw him. Screw him right in the ear.
He can see trouble coming, and bails out before the shit really hits the fan. I wonder how many others will follow in the next few weeks/months, rather than wait to get laid off. At least one dot-com vaporized from such a mass-resignation of the employees. (Partly because it was run by Yovette Mumford, who has an... 'interesting' business history.)
Nice to see a top level casualty but the job isn't phinished until Phorm and its cohorts are forced into administration then wiped out (prfereably by legal investigations) and K*nt can finally face the fact that there is no place for his "product".
We need to keep the awareness going so that all ISPs also realise there is no place for Phorm and others who follow this intrusive business model.
One down, more to go.