Phorm: Privacy concerns addressed

Phorm has insisted that it has addressed all privacy concerns about its targeted advertising system after completing a short trial with BT.

The trial of the system, which was branded BT Webwise, finished on 10 December and involved around 10,000 customers, Phorm said.

Phorm's director of corporate and internet communications, Alex Laity, told Web User that the company felt it had done a good job of addressing concerns over privacy voiced by some critics of the system.

Laity pointed out that Phorm had hosted a live web chat and even an event at the University of London where members of the public were invited to ask questions.

"We bent over backwards to be open and explanatory. We answered every one of the questions about the system," said Laity.

Laity also said that campaigners such as Alexander Hanff, the man behind the Nodpi.org website, had "not [been] listening to what we are saying" and questioned why anti-Phorm campaigners had not made complaints about other targeted advertising systems.

Phorm also said that despite some reports, Orange hadn't completely ruled out using Phorm or a similar system to provide targeted advertising.

As Web User reported in October, the senior vice-president of Orange's online advertising division said that the company had no plans to use Phorm.

"Orange didn't close off the possibility completely - they never said never. We're still in discussions," Laity told Web User.

www.phorm.com

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