It's been a little while since I last blogged about the vile Phorm system, in which all internet activity that is undertaken by customers of ISPs using the system is inspected and analysed for key words via which targeted adverts may be delivered. For more information about this system, check out the excellent Dephormation. We've seen a variety of "spinning" techniques used by both Phorm (former spyware distributors) and their principal client, BT, over the last few years, and news over the last couple of days has been typical.
Back in 2006 and 2007, BT conducted secret tests of the system, using their customers as guinea pigs, without their knowledge or consent. This was probably illegal, and certainly an unreasonable act. A third trial (in which users were invited to participated) was held at the end of 2008.
The Register reported on 10th February (Phorm: BT system 'most definitely' online by end of 2009) that Phorm's CEO Kent Ertegrul had emitted another press release claiming that the BT implementation of Phorm (known inappropriately as Webwise- the name is partly linked to the obfuscation technique claiming that the system's principal aim is to protect the web user from phishing sites) would happen before the end of 2009. This is a frequent tactic, but usually unsuccessful, on the part of Phorm, and is often in response to upcoming bad news.
The Phorm system, of course, is nothing to do with benefiting the internet user's experience, in fact it scans all internet transactions (a few, unspecified, exceptions are claimed), whether the user is signed up to the system or not. If the user is signed up, it copies the visited websites, and extracts keywords to be used for delivering targeted adverts. Check out the Dephormation site for details and onward links.
Sure enough, the very next day, the good old Register reported that "EU threatens 'formal action' against UK.gov on Phorm". This reports on the EU's attempts to persuade the UK Government to come clean on why they've cosied up to BT/Phorm and taken no action over the 2006 and 2007 trials. Additionally, it turns out the BT itself is facing a whopping black hole in its finances with it's global division reporting losses of over £500 million. This was sufficient to make a major dent in BT's profitability (The Register - "BT profits crash").
Judging from the performance of Phorm's share price, the attempted spin hasn't done much good.
Useful links (see also Dephormation's link page):
The internal BT report on the 2006 trials can be found at Wikileaks.
Dr Richard Clayton's analysis of the Phorm system