BadPhorm - When good ISPs go bad!

DISPLAYING TARGETED ADS IN UNUSED AREAS OF BROWSER WINDOWS AND USING USER PREMISSSIONED PERSONAL PRIVATE INFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH WEIGHTED DISPLAY OF ADS, ONLINE SEARCH RESULTS AND SEARCH ADS

United States Patent Application 20090281889
Kind Code: A1

A method comprises obtaining a user profile from a user who registers with an online service, providing the user profile to an ad server, receiving from the ad server a targeted ad based on the user profile, and displaying the targeted ad in an unused area of a browser window as an overlay to the browser window while the user views a page from a website or search results from a search engine

Inventors: Derosa-grund, Anthony H. (Magnolia, TX, US)

Application Number: 12/243703

Publication Date: 11/12/2009

Filing Date: 10/01/2008

I think this is serious, though I'm not absolutely sure it isn't an elaborate spoof. You wouldn't think anybody would go to all this trouble unless they were serious; but then again if they were, you'd expect them (or their patent attorney at least) to notice they'd spelt 'permissioned' wrong. And perhaps to avoid mentioning Phorm and NebuAd; though of course this was submitted back in October 2008, before either company was a busted flush.

But if it is serious, it's still going to raise a shitstorm; while it talks about compensating the user for looking at the ads they have given explicit permission to be sent, it is silent on what's in it for the website owner (and I suspect nothing), or whether such owner would even agree that the portions of his/her website being overlaid with ads were actually 'unused' at all.

Imagine your clean and judicious use of white space being regarded as 'unused', and used to sell incontinence pads and so on. That's just untenable.