Here in the UK, there has been a pretty large storm about BT's trials (and  proposed implementation) of the obnoxious Phorm system in which all users' web browsing sessions are intercepted and data extracted in order to deliver targeted advertising.  A No 10 petition has collected a large number of signatories, and several websites have been set up to explain the problems associated with Phorm and to campaign against it.  See isphormlegal for example.

Over in the USA, a company called NebuAd have been playing the same game.  Working with several ISPs, they have been playing fast and loose with customer rights.  Now it seems the chickens may be coming home to roost. Ars Technica reports that a class action has been launched against NebuAd and its ISP collaborators. As Ars Technica reports:

As a direct result of BT's infuriating dalliance with the despicable Phorm system, I chose to leave BT, and joined Zen Broadband, with the switchover on 8th October. 

I selected Zen from the myriad of other ISPs out there for several reasons - good reviews (in both press and in the internet); reasonable pricing; clear upfront description of service; rapid response to my equiry about Phorm; no lock-in to lengthy contract.

"Privacy is in our DNA, so we need to be honest and clear about what we are doing. We have decided not to be in Phorm because of that... The way it was proposed, the privacy issue was too strong." 

Just thought I'd plug the new release of Ubuntu Linux: Version 8.10, Intrepid Ibex.  Ubuntu Linux is the linux distribution that I use on my work laptop and three PCs at home.  In my view it's a fully featured and fully functional operating system, and well worth investigating. The press release is here.

I choose Ubuntu for a number of reasons, including ease of installation, software installation and upgrades. And of course it's open source and a free download  I'm well aware of the numerous alternative versions of Linux out there, and that some of those may better suit other users.  check out the distrowatch site for more information.   Many thanks to all the developers that together enable the distribution of so many flavours of Linux.

As I posted the other day, the latest version of Ubuntu GNU/Linux has been released.  Ubuntu's schedule sees a new release every six months, and this is reflected in the release numbering: 7.10 was released in October 2007, 8.04 in April 2008 and 8.10 in October 2008.  Each release has a nickname - 8.10 is also known as 'Intrepid Ibex', hence the image of an ibex to the left.

I usually avoid fresh installs of Ubuntu, preferring to go the route of upgrading via synaptic.  This involves considerable file downloading, which can be a fairly lengthy affair, particularly soon after release date when the Ubuntu servers and their mirrors are presumably havily loaded.   I have four computers running Ubuntu, and in light of the usual comments and complaints in the Ubuntu forums, I thought I'd note my upgrade experiences here.

Lest readers feel I (and others) overstate the dangers of the deep packet inspection that is about to be perpetrated on BT Internet customers, here is a quote from Kent Ertegrul, CEO of Phorm, Inc.:

I have to confess to being something of a novice with mobile comms.  I have steadfastly refused to have a mobile phone on the grounds that I don't want people phoning me up!  The various acronyms associated with mobile comms still confuse me a bit, and I have never sent a text message! However, I find myself travelling quite a bit, and within the UK, it seems  to me that in British hotels internet access is often just another way to extract cash from the guests.  (This is is contrast to my experiences in the USA and Japan).  One criterion I had for selecting a system was that some support for Linux should be available.  Browsing various fora, I decided to have a go with the Vodafone system.

Vodafone have a quite a large website covering development of drivers etc for their mobile devices including the USB modems.  The associated Betavone Forge site has a forum which was very helpful in getting the system working on Linux (Ubuntu 8.04).

Ofcom have published a consultation document entitled "Delivering super-fast broadband in the UK": this is an interactive affair, and I notice that the comments on one particular paragraph exceed the others.  Guess what that's about?

1.38  The introduction of new business models can be controversial, but may be very important in the delivery of new access networks. Regulation can have a role, for example in helping to increase consumer confidence in new services. One example is improving consumers' perception of behavioural advertising. We are interested in views on where else Ofcom can assist in new commercial developments.

I got my MAC, now to switch to a new ISP, an ISP that respects users' privacy, and which won't deal with Phorm.

I also finally got a response to my email requesting my web pages not be scanned by Phorm, a request that was NOT sent to an obviously Phome address, but which was read by at least 12 Phorm employees.

Wikipedia has a pretty good synopsis of Phorm, its history and its system.  (This is the page that Phorm itself tried to edit to paint them in a better light).

The BT support forum has a thread for BT/Webwise questions.  There are never any answers, but it's worth looking at.

4 good reasons not to take part in the BT Webwise Trial An excellent summary from the Open Rights Group explaining many of the issues at stake.  Includes many useful links.

The big day dawned for my change from BT to my new ISP, Zen Internet. A bit like a small child on Christmas morning, I dashed downstairs as soon as I woke up, and changed the router settings. Lo and behold, there, I was on the internet via Zen!

I did a quick speed test of the connection via speedtest.net, just to see what I was getting.  I've never seen any download speeds in excess of 2Mbps with BT, usually it was in the 1.7-1.9 range, yesterday it was a measly 700kbps or so.  Here I am with a considerable speed improvement, which exceeds the expected 5.5Mbps.

El Reg has a report that EU commissioners believe that HMG's response to their request for information as to why no action was taken over BT's covert spying on customers' web browisng was inadquate and want a better one.  The original response was not only inadequate, but submitted late.

Martin Selmayr, spokesman for commissioner Viviane Reding's Information Society and Media directorate-general told The Register the UK had more questions to answer. "We wrote to them again on the 6th [of October]", he said. "For us the matter is not finished. Quite the contrary." quoted from the Register 

The Open Rights Group have compiled a collection of CCTV surveillance cameras and assembled a huge mosaic in a protest held yesterday (11th October) in Parliament Square. The collection of images can be found here.

I just read on The Register that British Telecom will begin their third trial of the despicable Phorm data pimping service.  For reasons why this is so appalling, visit the nodpi and badphorm websites.

Alex Hanff over at nodpi reckons that the opt in/out system it seems that the BT data pimps will use still falls foul of legal requirements.  For my part, I believe that the whole system is vile, immoral and underhand.  There are a variety of aspects to the antics that the BT Data Pimps have conducted over the last few year that leave a particularly sour taste.

The information at the BT Webwise page seems to me to avoid discussing BT's real motives in proposing to employ this system.  The quoted blocks below come from BT's Webwise page.

BT Webwise increases your protection against online fraud and makes ads that appear on participating websites more relevant to your interests. It's completely free for BT Total Broadband customers and you don't have to download or install any software for it to work.

This is rather disingenuous.  Most modern browsers offer protection against phishing sites.  I strongly suspect that most broadband users would prefer to minimise all advertising: certainly this is one reason I use Firefox with its adblock add-on.  Of course it's free, BT will be selling our browsing history

The Daily Telegraph reports an interview with Prince Charles, that famous organic farmer, where he continues to lambast genetically modified crops.

His criticisms seem to principally concern the mass commercialisation of farming - I guess his interests in organic community farming in Caithness and the Duchy estate prompt this.  However the interview seems to me to be interpreted by the media as a criticism of the GM industry, despite his comments being vague and really quite ill-informed scientifically. To say GM crops are a "gigantic experiment I think with nature and the whole of humanity which has gone seriously wrong" is really unhelpful, with no evidence presented to support his stance.

As I seem to have acquired a bit of a reputation as a repeat offender in the puncture stakes (at least with my racing wheels), I have decided to log these events for the 2008 season. This year I decided to switch back to clinchers (on H3 wheels) as the expense of replacing all those tubulars was becoming prohibitive.

At this time each year, we see the launch of the following year's cycling equipment - sometimes (all too rarely in my opinion) a hugely significant technical advance is made.  Shimano's development of STI shifters for road bikes, which seemed to stimulate parallel development at Campagnolo, is one of these cases.  Addition of more gears does not.  For example, cyclingnews.com has an article outlining the changes to Campagnolo's lineup for 2009, with the addition of an 11th cog to the cassette in the top three groupsets, among other things.

I have had absolutely no experience with SRAM equipment, so I have no worthwhile opinions on that.  The kit looks good, has had good reviews, and it is good to see a third player in the field. 

Good innovations

It's been some time since I commented on the dreadful Phorm system of deep packet inspection, and BT's intention to use the Phorm system to snoop on your browsing habits and supply targeted advertising.  (Recall that Phorm are a known spyware maker - in their previous incarnation of 121Media).

Alexander Hanff, who has made a series of appearances on the media to make robust criticisms of the system has posted a detailed description here. The day that BT implement this, I will leave them for another (Phorm-free) ISP.

BT Retail, who manage the ISP business have behaved quite appallingly over the matter, ignoring (and even trying so suppress) discussion on their forums -  all the signs are that they are holding fire until the furore dies down.  We should all try to ensure that this doesn't die down.  Visit BadPhorm for more information.