Archive for the ‘Privacy’ Category

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Changing Phorm? No ISP, no customers, no ads prompts new publisher offensive

03:56 pm - June 3rd, 2009 by Sean

At around the same time as Sir Alan tells one would-be Apprentice ‘you’re fired’ tonight, Phorm will be launching what it claims has always been the ‘missing piece’ in its ‘rounded offering’.
However, one can only imagine what the business guru would have to say to Phorm if he were there in person. With six months

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New Microsoft search engine could go off with a Bing

07:53 pm - May 27th, 2009 by Dave

With a launch expected very soon, it looks like Microsoft is planning to ditch the “Kumo” moniker from its new search engine and go to market with an altogether different name. The Redmond giant is reportedly putting aside a hundred million dollars to market its new Google wannabe and, if the name does end up being “Bing,” it could need every cent.

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University hijacks Torpig botnet, cracks 56,000 passwords in an hour

05:43 pm - May 5th, 2009 by Dave

Researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) have been able to infiltrate and hijack the Torpig botnet for ten days before they were locked out - and just published a paper on their findings. During their time in control the infamous botnet (also known as Sinowal) managed to steal 70 gigabytes of data

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Home Office accused of “jaw dropping” Phorm “collusion”

06:43 pm - April 28th, 2009 by Dave

The Home Office has been accused of “colluding” with behaviour advertising firm Phorm after correspondence between the two was published. The Government department has previously denied giving the company “any advice directly relating to possible criminal liability for the operation of their advertising platform in the UK.” Now it might have to change its

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Amazon blocks Phorm but won’t say why

12:24 pm - April 15th, 2009 by Dave

After news yesterday that Phorm could be getting the U.K. Government in trouble with the European courts, Amazon UK has announced it’s not going to let the behaviour-advertising system scan its web pages. The controversial technology  - which is marketed under the name Webwise - works by scanning for keywords in the pages an Internet

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UK goes to bottom of the Phorm as EU prepares to take it to court over privacy fears

05:53 pm - April 14th, 2009 by Adelaide

The European Commission has said it is going to take the UK to court over its failure to enforce european privacy and data protection laws — and it’s all because of Phorm. Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding has for the past few months been conversing with the Information Commissioner’s Office about the online advertiser’s controversial methods

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ISPs now have to keep user data for one year

01:58 pm - April 6th, 2009 by Dave

New European Union legislation comes into effect today forcing Internet Service Providers to hold on to data for 12 months on how we use the internet. The measures include details about who you send emails to or talk with using online phone clients like Skype – but not the content of such correspondence. Data about

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Some Good News at BT as Share Price Drops.

08:34 am - February 13th, 2009 by Phil

BT’s share price fell below £1 yesterday, a 25 year low, on the announcement of the 3rd Quarter financial results but there was some good news around in the broadband area. While the pension fund tanked from a £2bn surplus to a £2bn deficit and BT Global Services lost £0.5bn in a quarter, BT Retail’s broadband revenue

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Phorm denies London changes mean giving up on America

04:25 pm - December 5th, 2008 by Sean

Phorm is refuting suggestions that strategic differences have caused four senior board directors to quit and is also denying the departures show it is giving up on the America market.
Despite the departing American-based chairman and chief operating officer being replaced by non executives directors based in London, a spokesman for the company is adamant that

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OFCOM launches new consumer guides

04:00 pm - November 30th, 2008 by Phil

OFCOM has added consumer guides on Slamming and Unsolicited calls to their website. These two areas generate over 1,000 calls per month to OFCOM from consumers.
The unsolicited calls guide includes silent calls made by automatic dialler systems where the recipient is connected to an operator but hears silence if no operator is available.
Slamming is the

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Orange snubs Phorm, but Virgin Media and Carphone still on track

11:56 am - November 3rd, 2008 by Sean

Although the customer tracking advertising platform Phorm received a blow this week when it was publicly snubbed by Orange, it can take solace that Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse have assures Sam Knows they are keen to carry on evaluating the technology.
The advertising platform is no stranger to controversy. BT began a trial at the

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Phorm goes live with BT

12:00 am - September 30th, 2008 by Sean

After months of hype, public demonstrations, threatened legal action, a government review and recurring BT promises of a service “in the next few weeks”; Phorm finally launches on BT today under the Webwise brand name.
The controversial technology tracks web surfing histories for ISP customers (who have opted-in) and so can serve more relevant advertising which

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Government say Phorm is legal, police shrug off case

08:48 pm - September 22nd, 2008 by Sean

The British government has confirmed to the European Commission that the controversial ad-serving business, Phorm, is legal. In a move that will come as little surprise considering the service was given the go-ahead by the Information Commissioner this Spring, the government outlined that, so long as it remained an opt-in service, it would be legal.
The

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NebuAd CEO resigns

09:32 pm - September 4th, 2008 by Sean

NebuAd, one of two arch exponents of tracking user behaviour - via their ISP - to deliver more targeted adverts, has suffered a major blow with the departure of its CEO, Bob Dykes.
Using technology similar to Phorm, which is due to be trialled with BT “over the coming weeks”, NebuAd tracks user viewing habits so

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