Phorm again

[jane]

"Changing Phorm? No ISP, no customers, no ads prompts new publisher offensive"

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/news/changing-phorm-no-isp-no-customers-no-ads-prompts-new-publisher-offensive-638.html

Will this man not give up?

[D-Dan]

I have to say I believe they are flogging a dead horse. Computer press has been overtly critcal of Phorm's DPI, and the threat to privacy. The original ruling that forced Phorm to be opt-in rather than opt-out (which was the original intention), and the fact that most active enthusiasts wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, means that word will reach the majority of users through one mechanism or another (I personally have warned people in advance to steer clear) means that they will never gain the market they need to be successful.

If they had been more open and honest in the testing stages (let's face it - a blind test with BT was a BIG mistake), and marketted it differently, they may have had a chance. Now, with their recent history, they are universally perceived as spyware, and best left alone.

Steve

[Gary]

I have to say I believe they are flogging a dead horse. Computer press has been overtly critcal of Phorm's DPI, and the threat to privacy. The original ruling that forced Phorm to be opt-in rather than opt-out (which was the original intention), and the fact that most active enthusiasts wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, means that word will reach the majority of users through one mechanism or another (I personally have warned people in advance to steer clear) means that they will never gain the market they need to be successful.

If they had been more open and honest in the testing stages (let's face it - a blind test with BT was a BIG mistake), and marketted it differently, they may have had a chance. Now, with their recent history, they are universally perceived as spyware, and best left alone.

Steve

I have to disagree, Phorm is just part of another in the long line of monitoring applications for our actions in the UK, we keep letting another slip through, and another, like ANPR and its new data base, email and phone calls and texts being kept, RFID tagging in supermarkets, your mobile phone always giving your position, its all invading our privacy which is being eroded little by little, with Phorm being a part of this process in my mind. Saying "if you have nothing to hide, why worry" is not the actual issue its how much do you think its fair that local councils, government bodies, etc know about your life, like your political affiliations, your cash flow, your debts if any, your sexual orientation, where you work, how many miles you travel the list goes on. Phorm is an ideal profiling tool to help pad out our online lives, and I for one am glad to be no part of it. We all have our own views and no one person is right or wrong here, but this is just how I feel on the subject, I live in a country that monitors your movement more so than any other in the world, I do not like, that and when local councils use the new rules for monitoring possible terrorist activity to actually watch a woman to see where she lives so as to determine if her application for her childs prefered school by area is correct using those very same rules, its gone way to far I think. More ways to watch us  are not welcome as far as I am concerned, although others may feel different. 

[D-Dan]

You misunderstand my position, it seems. I am in no way supporting Phorm, and have actively discouraged people from opting in (my parents who are with Virgin, for example).

I was simply pointing out that they have managed to cripple their own chances of success in the way they have gone about taking their inaugural steps.

I agree, entirely, with your personal views on the matter.

Steve

[Gary]

You misunderstand my position, it seems. I am in no way supporting Phorm, and have actively discouraged people from opting in (my parents who are with Virgin, for example).

I was simply pointing out that they have managed to cripple their own chances of success in the way they have gone about taking their inaugural steps.

I agree, entirely, with your personal views on the matter.

Steve

That will teach me for reading a post after taking my painkillers, sorry I miss read your post  I see what you mean now, and yes they did, which in hindsight may have been a good thing.

[Rik]

I think it was, it's put most of our backs up, so we won't even consider using it. Power to the people!