Tomorrow, BT will be inviting some of its customers to take part in “BT Webwise,” the third trial of its “exciting new” advertising targeting system.
Based on technology supplied by Phorm, it is planned that up to 10,000 residential internet connections will be monitored and profiled in real time.
In an announcement (pdf) to the stock market today, Phorm said, “BT customers are being invited to take part in the trial, which will take place over a number of weeks. Following successful completion of this trial and an appropriate period of analysis and planning, it is currently expected that Phorm’s platform will be rolled out across BT’s network.”
Customer tracking is to be achieved using cookies. If this is the case, it is unclear to me what the purpose of the “invitation” is, as a cookie based system suggests that all internet traffic, whether customers opt in or opt out, will stream through the tracking equipment, although BT claims that customers blocking cookies from “webwise.net” will not have their activity recorded.
As already mentioned, this is the third trial of real time monitoring and profiling by BT and Phorm. The first two trials which took place in 2006 and 2007, happened without the knowledge or consent of BT customers.
My advice is to steer clear of BT, and choose a small, local, relatively independent ISP instead.
….sigh……
Thanks for this info. I’m a BT customer and I must admit that the Internet Service is excellent. A bit more expensive than others but it works and I love it. When I learn of all the other chancers like Talk Talk and read of their customer experiences then I’m glad I’m with BT. I’ll make sure that on the day in question I access every single porn site that I can think of. So no change really
) I couldn’t care less what they see me looking at.
“If this is the case, it is unclear to me what the purpose of the ‘invitation’ is, as a cookie based system suggests that all internet traffic, whether customers opt in or opt out, will stream through the tracking equipment…”
It’s because we’ve got only the second half of a whole opt-in/out-out system. Firstly, the subscriber needs to agree that this can take place on their broadband connection. Even once the subscriber has agreed, each individual user of that connection still needs to give permission to allow profiling.
I’ve seen two explanations for why the first half is missing. One explanation is that BT don’t want to provide a true opt-out. By making it necessary to leave BT broadband to completely avoid Webwise, BT are hoping that few subscribers will do this. The other explanation, and the one I favour, is that BT have found it incredibly difficult to implement due to a combination of technical issues and the regulatory constraints that separate the parts of BT.
Does anyone know if there are any signs to look out for if your internet connection is being monitored?, such as a crackle or a fizz sound or an overactive processing noise when the computer is not active?, also i’ve heard that a pc / laptop can be remotely interfered with including accessing your webcam and literaly spying on you?, If this is true then Orwell’s 1984 is surely just around the corner, some would say he was a visionary but knowing the twisted inhuman greedy fools that currently operate aloft the pyramidal power structure, I would say they indolently and perversly take their ideas directly from fiction, life copies art, eh, just like Towering Inferno.
Phorm is
- mass surveillance
- mass industrial espionage
- mass intellectual property infringement
Visit Dephormation.org.uk for more information.
Join us at NoDPI.org and Badphorm.
And write to your MP;
https://www.dephormation.org.uk/letters/
PHORM MUST BE STOPPED
Do not use BT/Virgn/TalkTalk as your broadband service provider.