Major websites urged to boycott Phorm

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 24 Mar 2009 at 08:59

The Open Rights Group has called for large websites to boycott the Phorm advertising system as the launch date looms.

An open letter has been sent to privacy officers at Microsoft, Google/Youtube, Facebook, AOL/Bebo, Yahoo, Amazon and Ebay asking them to "opt out of the Phorm system".

"You may already be aware of the very significant concerns being expressed by many of your UK internet customers about the interception and processing of their data whenever it is viewed by customers whose ISPs deploy the Phorm/Webwise system," reads the letter.

"You may already be aware of our view that the Phorm / Webwise system is illegal... we strongly believe that it is in your company's interest; it is in the interests of all of your customers, and it will serve to protect your brand's reputation, if you insist that the Phorm/Webwise system does not process any data that passes to or from your website."

The letter is cosigned by Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group and Richard Clayton in his role as treasurer of the Foundation for Information Policy Research.

Phorm says it is aware of the letter, but that many of the sites are already using similar advertising systems.

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft also confirmed they were aware of the letter, but offered no further comment.

The letter follows criticism of the system by Tim Berners-Lee who described Phorm as like a "TV camera in your room".