Phorm uses legal muscle against critical press reports

The Register reports (Phorm unleashes legal attack on critics) that much-criticised former spyware company Phorm has unleased legal missives in the direction of Which?, who conducted a user survery which supposedly found that internet users were deeply unhappy about the intrusive and possibly illegal Phorm system, which scans all internet activity in order to extract keywords for targetted advertising.  According to The Regiser,

News articles based on a survey indicating public opposition to Phorm's web snooping and advertising system have been withdrawn after the firm made legal threats to their publishers.

The independent consumer watchdog Which? sent a press release to newspapers earlier this week entitled "Internet users say: Don't sell my surfing habits". It detailed survey findings that UK internet users are opposed to plans by BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media to monitor and profile their browsing in collaboration with Phorm.

Phorm claim to have conducted their own market surveys, which of course paint a much rosier picture of public support for their proposed activities.  Which isn't very surprising.  However, Phorm have apparently not released those survey data, which leave suspicions about how the questions were framed.

For my part, I can say that I left BT as an ISP after many years directly because of Phorm.   Apparently:Phorm said

its libel lawyers, who it declined to identify, were working with Which? to "correct" the press release. In the past Phorm has employed Schillings, a well known media law firm offering "reputation management" services.

A Phorm spokesman said that the survey had been based on inaccurate information and that the press release itself contained inaccuracies. "It repeatedly stated the Webwise system collects and sells on data which is misleading. We also wouldn't allow the creation of advertising channels on sensitive subjects such as for medical products," he said.

Doesn't sound too far from the truth to me.