Why wouldn't BT stand up for Phorm?

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 11 Mar 2009 at 15:39

BT spurned an invitation to defend Phorm in front of some of the country's leading politicians, it has been revealed.

Baroness Miller invited BT to join a panel of internet experts and politicians at the House of Commons today, but the company declined.

The debate saw Sir Tim Berners-Lee argue that BT was "snooping" on its customers and that technologies such as Phorm were like "putting a television camera in your room".

So why did BT decline the opportunity to defend the behavioural advertising system, which it plans to roll out later this year? "We didn't think it was appropriate," a BT spokesperson told PC Pro. "We felt we were too close it."

"This is a wider debate about the use of technology," the spokesperson added. "On this occasion it was deemed more appropriate for someone like Phorm, who are the technology as it were, to attend."

When asked whether BT was attempting to distance itself from Phorm, the spokesperson told us: "No, not at all. It was just more appropriate that they [Phorm's spokespeople] would be there to represent themselves."

A Phorm spokesman told PC Pro that the company had requested to join the panel in the first instance, but had been turned down. "BT requested we took its slot, that was also rebuffed," the spokesman said.

Instead, the company's CEO Kent Ertugrul and several Phorm staff sat in the audience and they made several exasperated attempts to enter the debate. When finally permitted to speak, Ertugrul started his address by stating that he was "sorry we weren't allowed to join the panel", before going on to complain that many of the comments made "patently misrepresent what we do".

When PC Pro asked the Phorm spokesperson if he felt BT was attempting to distance itself from his company, he said: "There's no suggestion we're not working together."

Barry Collins on why the Lib Dems were wrong to gag Phorm