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| An alternative view point | ||
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| altus |
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 Registered Member #285 Joined: Thu Apr 03 2008, 05:42PMPosts: 19 | All the arguments against Phorm so far seem to have been based on individuals not wanting to be profiled. This could be used to imply that Phorm is good for businesses and would be universally welcomed by them. But would it? Below is an idea I had for getting across to non technical business people how Phorm will be bad for them as well: What does Phorm mean for my business? Every time a customer from an ISP using Phorm visits your web site, Phorm will analyse the contents of the pages you send them and later, when that customer looks at other web sites, target them with adverts related to the contents of your web site. Those adverts are almost certain to be from your competitors rather than you. In 'bricks and mortar' terms, this would be like someone listening in to your conversation with a customer in your shop, following them outside, and then telling them that the products you sell are available in another shop down the road. Do you really want your customers to be targeted with adverts from your competitors because they visited you? Any thoughs? Other examples? | ||
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| Frank Rizzo |
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 Registered Member #75 Joined: Sun Mar 02 2008, 06:49PMPosts: 198 | Exactly. It's like you are walking down the isles of B&Q and you spot a spanner, a tub of lawn feed and a crysanthemum... You leave the store and on your way home you start seeing ads for Homebase spanners, Homebase lawn feed and Homebase crysanthemums. B&Q: you profiled the customer but he is now on his way to Homebase to make purchases that were prompted to him. | ||
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| phormwatch |
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 Registered Member #297 Joined: Sun Apr 06 2008, 01:57AMPosts: 212 | Well, yes, exactly. No use just pointing this out on a forum, though. What's the plan for letting businesses know this is a bad idea? Anyone want to write up a brief explanation in order to distribute to various UK businesses? http://phormwatch.blogspot.com/ | ||
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| altus |
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| Registered Member #285 Joined: Thu Apr 03 2008, 05:42PMPosts: 19 | There are a number of small business websites we can post to to spread the word that way - I'm not sure about more generally though. I think getting some businesses aware of Phorm issues before presenting it to the media will be more effective because then they will have someone relevant to interview - rather than have techies presenting a 'hypothetical problem'. The request for any thoughts/examples is because we could do with answers to other questions businesses are likely to have. e.g. Can I block them doing this to my site? Where can I get more information? Who can I complain to? The last two are easy enough because they are just web links. I'm not that au fait with the technical details from a server being phormed point of view, if someone could have a go at explaining that from a non-technical business person perspective that would be good. I'll collect replies together and produce a list of less technical links. If anyone has other ideas for questions that businesses might want answering post them in this thread. (Send me a PM if you have a suggested answer as well and want someone to read through it before it publishing it to the world.) | ||
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| Midnight_Voice |
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 Registered Member #180 Joined: Thu Mar 13 2008, 08:51PMPosts: 717 | I understand that Phorm within BT is limited to BT Retail. Opinions differs about whether the BT Business people take the view that they wouldn't touch Phorm with yours, or whether they have regretfully decided that the uproar if they tried to do this to business activity, with its strong presumption of the requirement of confidentiality, would dwarf the fuss we private individuals are making. However, a few moments consideration of the implications of Phrom profiling business activity should act as a further nail in Phorm's coffin I'm a nonconPhormist; I won't be conned by Phorm | ||
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| altus |
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| Registered Member #285 Joined: Thu Apr 03 2008, 05:42PMPosts: 19 | Midnight_Voice wrote ... I understand that Phorm within BT is limited to BT Retail. Whether a business's ISP uses Phorm, although a serious concern, isn't really the issue here. Even if a business has specifically chosen an ISP because they will have nothing to do with Phorm, their traffic will still get analysed if a phormed customer views their site. You have prompted another question for the list though: Q. Can't I avoid it by changing ISP? A. No because... | ||
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| madslug |
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 Registered Member #266 Joined: Tue Apr 01 2008, 12:11PMPosts: 771 | Many large companies have managers going home with laptops to work from home. That will put the phorged cookies onto business computers. Not to mention all that confidential surfing that they were unable to do in the office. And, don't mention emails, chats and forums. General internet security. These are all things that I want to write up on the mADSLug site. Would anyone like to help me set up a forum, maybe CMS site, where all these topics can be covered? PMs welcomed. Who is tracking your surfing? iCab mobile browser with its privacy controls now available to iPhone and iPod from the App Store - turn images off for faster and beacon free surfing. | ||
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