Phorm lifts the lid on Webwise

Phorm has revealed how the Webwise platform will work but not when it will be launched in the UK or which companies it is partnering with.

Having attracted criticism from privacy campaigners in the past, Phorm's system is designed to provide not only relevant advertising to a consumer but related content as well.

How Webwise will work

In fact, the initial focus is on providing surfers with a list of content relevant to what they have been looking at at the time or previously, rather than adverts.

Some categories of content, however, including medical and adult content, will not be registered by the system.

Google challenger
Webwise Discover, from a surfer's point of view, is essentially designed to make interesting content easily available in just one click, rather than the surfer having to go searching for it.

But Phorm's chief executive, Kent Ertugrul, said that the aim was not to challenge Google, which he described as a "brilliant" company.

"It would be a mistake to say we are taking on Google. If we were to, we would no doubt lose. But there is room for more than one company on the web," he said.

Opt-in
The company moved to counter criticisms that the service invades individuals' privacy by insisting it would be an opt-in service only.

Additionally, if someone were to opt in and then opt out later, once they opted out no information related to surfing activities would go through the Webwise system.

The company also repeated its assertion that no data that could identify an individual is stored by Phorm.

It also pointed to research it carried out that found that fewer than three per cent of the UK public had heard of the company and that 70 per cent of those people had a positive or neutral perception of Phorm.

Global plans
It described its critics as a "vocal minority" and said that it had not encountered any significant opposition to its platform in any other country. Phorm said it was looking at launching a service in all of the major internet markets worldwide.

The service has already launched in South Korea, which Phorm described as the "most advanced internet country in the world".

Ertugrul several times declined to set a date for when Webwise would be operational in the UK or to name any UK partners. "When we have something to announce, we'll let you know," he said.

Phorm has carried out three trials with BT, one of which it later emerged had been conducted in secret.