Why you should be concerned

What is Phorm?  Phorm is a new internet surveillance technology aimed at home computer users. Three UK Internet Service Providers - BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse (Talk Talk) - propose to implement it this year. BT is marketing Phorm as Webwise.

What does it do?  Phorm reads every word of every website that you visit and also all the data you send to websites. Phorm states that their technology does not keep this data. However your Internet Service Provider reads it to decide whether to strip out sensitive information. Phorm then analyses it and creates a constantly-updated profile on you, your interests and your online habits. This profile is then used to select advertisements which will be shown to you on any participating websites that you visit.

Phorm will also tell you if you are about to visit a website which might try to obtain your credit card and banking information fraudulently. However, similar functions are already built into modern versions of the web browsers used by most people.

What is new about it?  Retailers and companies like Google already collect information about you when you visit their websites. The difference with Phorm is that with a few exceptions it intercepts and reads everything you do in every website you visit, and processes this information to build a total picture of you.

Is it safe?  Phorm claims that its technology cannot be used to identify you personally. Some technology experts believe that this is not necessarily the case and it could potentially be open to both abuse by the company and attacks by hackers.

Is it legal?  Phorm claims that it complies with the UK Data Protection Act because it does not keep personally identifiable information on you. However, some technical and legal experts believe that it breaches the Regulation of Investgatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) because it intercepts your communications without the explicit consent of both you and the website you are visiting.

Can I avoid it?  The Internet Service Providers will allow you to opt out of receiving the targeted advertising but in its current form all but one of them (Talk Talk) will still intercept all your web traffic even if you opt out. The only difference with opting out is that you will not be presented with the advertisements.

What if I want nothing to do with it?  At the moment, if your Internet Service Provider is BT, Virgin Media or Talk Talk, the only way you can be sure that your traffic will not be intercepted is to move to an Internet Service Provider that has stated that it will not use Phorm technology.

Has It started yet?  As of 5th April 2008, BT has run two secret trials of this system without informing the users whose web traffic was intercepted: one in 2006 and another in 2007. All three Internet Service Providers who are proposing to use Phorm have stated that the system has not started yet on their networks. However BT plans to start a trial in the next few weeks, this time asking selected customers whether they want to participate. They will not be asking for permission from the Government agencies, banks, retailers, message board and forum operators or indeed the owners of any other websites whose traffic will be intercepted.