Phorm

Phorm, formerly known as 121Media, was a digital technology company known for its contextual advertising software. Phorm was incorporated in Delaware, United States, but relocated to Singapore as Phorm Corporation (Singapore) Ltd in 2012. Founded in 2002¹, the company originally distributed programs that were considered spyware, from which they made millions of dollars in revenue. It stopped distributing those programs after complaints from groups in the United States and Canada, and announced it was talking with several United Kingdom Internet service providers (ISPs) to deliver targeted advertising based on the websites that users visited. Phorm partnered with ISPs Oi, Telefonica in Brazil, Romtelecom in Romania, and TTNet in Turkey. In June 2012, Phorm made an unsuccessful attempt to raise £20 million for a 20% stake in its Chinese subsidiary. The company's proposed advertising system, called Webwise, was a behavioral targeting service (similar to NebuAd) that used deep packet inspection to examine traffic. Phorm said that the data collected would be anonymous and would not be used to identify users, and that their service would include protection against phishing (fraudulent collection of users' personal information).…

Phorm, formerly known as 121Media, was a digital technology company known for its contextual advertising software. Phorm was incorporated in Delaware, United States, but relocated to Singapore as Phorm Corporation (Singapore) Ltd in 2012. Founded in 2002, the company originally distributed programs that were considered spyware, from which they made millions of dollars in revenue. It stopped distributing those programs after complaints from groups in the United States and Canada, and announced it was talking with several United Kingdom Internet service providers (ISPs) to deliver targeted advertising based on the websites that users visited. Phorm partnered with ISPs Oi, Telefonica in Brazil, Romtelecom in Romania, and TTNet in Turkey. In June 2012, Phorm made an unsuccessful attempt to raise £20 million for a 20% stake in its Chinese subsidiary. The company's proposed advertising system, called Webwise, was a behavioral targeting service (similar to NebuAd) that used deep packet inspection to examine traffic. Phorm said that the data collected would be anonymous and would not be used to identify users, and that their service would include protection against phishing (fraudulent collection of users' personal information). Nonetheless, World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee and others spoke out against Phorm for tracking users' browsing habits, and the ISP BT Group was criticised for running secret trials of the service. The UK Information Commissioner's Office voiced legal concerns over Webwise, and has said it would only be legal as an "opt-in" service, not an opt-out system. The European Commission called on the UK to protect Web users' privacy, and opened an infringement proceeding against the country in regard to ISPs' use of Phorm. Some groups, including Amazon.com and the Wikimedia Foundation (the non-profit organization that operates collaborative wiki projects), requested an opt-out of their websites from scans by the system. Phorm changed to an opt-in policy. According to Phorm's website, the company would not collect any data from users who had not explicitly opted in to its services. Users had to provide separate consent for each web browsing device they used. Due to increasing issues, Phorm ceased trading on 14 April 2016. ==== Advertisers and websites ==== Advertisers which had initially expressed an interest about Phorm include: Financial Times, The Guardian, Universal McCann, MySpace, iVillage, MGM OMD, Virgin Media and Unanimis. The Guardian has withdrawn from its targeted advertising deal with Phorm; in an email to a reader, advertising manager Simon Kilby stated "It is true that we have had conversations with them [Phorm] regarding their services but we have concluded at this time that we do not want to be part of the network. Our decision was in no small part down to the conversations we had internally about how this product sits with the values of our company." In response to an article published in The Register on 26 March 2008, Phorm has stated that MySpace has not joined OIX as a Publisher. The Financial Times has decided not to participate in Phorm's impending trial. The ORG's Jim Killock said that many businesses "will think [commercial] data and relationships should simply be private until they and their customers decide," and might even believe "having their data spied upon is a form of industrial espionage". David Evans of the British Computer Society has questioned whether the act of publishing a website on the net is the same as giving consent for advertisers to make use of the site's content or to monitor the site's interactions with its customers. Pete John created an add on, called Dephormation, for servers and web users to opt out and remain opted-out of the system; however, John ultimately recommends that users switch from Phorm-equipped Internet providers: "Dephormation is not a solution. It is a fig leaf for your privacy. Do not rely on Dephormation to protect your privacy and security. You need to find a new ISP." In April 2009, Amazon.com announced that it would not allow Phorm to scan any of its domains. The Wikimedia Foundation has also requested an opt-out from scans, and took the necessary steps to block all Wikimedia and Wikipedia domains from being processed by the Phorm system on the 16th of that month. In July 2009 the Nationwide Building Society confirmed that it would prevent Phorm from scanning its website, in order to protect the privacy of its customers.

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