Would You Trust A Former Spyware Firm With Your Privacy? - That's the question many are asking of Phorm, formerly 121Media
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Would You Trust A Former Spyware Firm With Your Privacy?
That's the question many are asking of Phorm, formerly 121Media
(old news - 08:46AM Wednesday Feb 27 2008)
tags: privacy · world · software · networking
Tipped by robertfl
We recently discussed both Phorm and NebuAD -- two outfits who pay ISPs to put deep packet inspection hardware on their networks to track your browsing habits. That information is then used to deliver ads based on your interests. While NebuAd's roots are in the networking sector (we recently spoke with NebuAD's CEO and former Juniper employee Bob Dykes), we observed that Phorm's roots seem to be in the spyware and rootkit industry. That shady history is making an already controversial business model even more controversial.

Related:
  1. ISPs Make a Tidy Profit Selling Your Browsing History
  2. Swiss Bank, CA Court Censor Whistleblower Website
  3. Phorm Gets Proactive in Addressing Privacy Concerns
  4. Thursday Morning Links
  5. Monday Evening Links
  6. Monday Morning Links
  7. Wednesday Evening Links
  8. Friday Evening Links
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SSX4life @ 27th Feb 08:51AM:
Would you trust an ex con

Would you trust an ex con to be a teller at a bank? Or a security officers?

Would you trust a pedophile to be a school teacher?

Didn't think so.
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»www.google.com is your best friend... please use it before asking your question.
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MoeDumb @ 27th Feb 09:30AM:
Can a tiger change its stripes?

Uh-uh.
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gaforces @ 27th Feb 09:47AM:
Violation of Privacy

This kind of hardware will make encryption popular, making it harder for the govt to spy as well.
No matter what they say that it is anon data, to serve you targeted ads, they have to know who you are to do that.
They LIE so they can make money.
--
Vista ~ Less functional every day!
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Doctor Four @ 27th Feb 10:09AM:
You can't polish a turd

No matter how much you try, it always comes out looking
(and smelling) like s**t. The same is true with many
spyware vendors.
--
"The trouble with computers, of course, is that they are very sophisticated idiots." - Doctor Who (from Robot)

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dualsub2006 @ 27th Feb 10:17AM:
Just block the ads and this will stop

Firefox + NoScript + AdBlock Plus = No Worries.

You can't stop your ISP from selling your browsing habits but you can certainly stop those that your data is sold to in their tracks. Ad buyers will only send money to a company if their ads are clicked on and sales are made.
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emptywig @ 27th Feb 10:33AM:
Stupid Spelling and Stupid Name

= Company out of business soon.

I really wish people, but mainly business people, would stop using these 6th-grade-level spelling adaptations. Phorm? First off, its the kind of "Look how cool I am" spelling that one would expect from some punk-ass 15 year-old tagger.

But more to the point, doesn't "Phorm" make you think "Phishing" and does that sound like a good name for a company? Who is the genius who thought that was a good name, and why is he/she employed?

wig
--
"There is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
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wruckman @ 27th Feb 11:34AM:
Absolutely Not!

Once a criminal, always a criminal. Reform is a illusion of restraint.

Can you trust Sony again? After they put rootkits on our PCs? I think not!
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SilverSurfer @ 27th Feb 12:15PM:
Yeah Right

the only thing more ridiculous than trusting purveyors of spyware with personal data is the Utah porn filter idea. I have one reaction to both:

HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

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swhx7 @ 27th Feb 12:21PM:
Re: Just block the ads and this will stop

This doesn't work until a large enough number of people do it. Firefox users are about 25% now and that includes most of those who have a clue about computers. There are millions who can hardly tell a keyboard from a kumquat, and studies show a subset of them account for most ad clicks.

It will take legislation to stop this sort of thing. The best approach is educating people - naive users being offended by the "creepy" factor of ISPs monitoring and selling user data is the biggest weapon against this.
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swhx7 @ 27th Feb 12:22PM:
Re: Violation of Privacy

Encryption hides the content, not the IP address or destinations. The addresses are all they need for data-mining.
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anon @ 27th Feb 02:46PM:
Re: Stupid Spelling and Stupid Name

Phorm is anagram of Morph.

Has anyone actually looked at the web site to see how it works? The hardware assigns a random id number to the user. If you have various log ins then each session/user will have a different random ID for THAT SESSION. as soon as you turn your pc off, or disconnect your broadban, your random id is deleted. No Ip addresses are collected. It really isn't that difficult to understand. But then again, some people see to love a good conspiracy theory ( let me guess Ernst & Young are also guilty?!!)
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fishmaster @ 27th Feb 03:55PM:
Re: Just block the ads and this will stop

Not the mention of the charging and raising of rates for the 'Value of Service'
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Browse Alot - Sign In Little - Post Even Less
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gaforces @ 27th Feb 04:28PM:
Re: Violation of Privacy

Cookies are blocked, flash is blocked, most the ad/marketing sites are blocked. How are they going to get useful data to target ads to me? Just by the sites I visit? That wont be useful to target ads to me, specially when I wont even see them.
--
Vista ~ Less functional every day!
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emptywig @ 27th Feb 06:38PM:
Re: Stupid Spelling and Stupid Name

said by waynoo :

Phorm is anagram of Morph.
How clever they are. Like my 10yr old niece.

wig
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"Please keep your f***ing politics to yourself."
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