A question of Phorm
UPDATE: I'll be speaking to Phorm tomorrow 1pm GMT. If you've any questions you'd like me to put to them leave a note in the comments or email ipm [at] bbc.co.uk
The Guardian's Charles Arthur posted Friday an surrounding Phorm, and the targeted advertising systems they are delivering for three of the biggest UK internet service providers (BT, Virgin and TalkTalk). The programme is attracting a lot of scrutiny, this link to gives a sense of the range of opinion.
The Phorm system is a significant development in the way these ISP's handle our surfing data, and as befits their role, the Information Commissioner's Office is taking a good look at the detail of the scheme: this is no bad thing for Phorm, if they pass scrutiny by the information watchdog without incident it will go a long way to allaying any concerns. When I asked the ICO on Monday whether they were indeed interested in Phorm this is the reply I received from a spokesperson:
鈥淭he Information Commissioner鈥檚 Office has spoken with the advertising technology company, Phorm, regarding its agreement with some UK internet service providers. Phorm has informed us about the product and how it works to provide targeted online advertising content. At our request, Phorm has provided written information to us about the way in which the company intends to meet privacy standards. We are currently reviewing this information. We are also in contact with the ISPs who are working with Phorm and we are discussing this issue with them. We will be in a position to comment further in due course.鈥
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