Forum Moderators: phranque
Here's a quick overview of what Phorm is about:
Two major ISPs in the UK have signed up to impliment the Phorm / Webwise / Oix advertising system (one other major ISP has expressed an interest).
Most users find this way of advertising intrusive because of the way the Phorm system can read everything a user reads and writes on the internet - it is akin to the mail service opening your mail, reading all the words, discarding 'personal information' sealing your letter back up, sending it on your way, building a profile about you and then targetting you with a better class of junk mail.
We could spend months examining the privacy issues and the legalities of it but as this is a webmaster site I want to discuss the issues of Phorm and your website.
All Your Content is Fair Game
If a visitor to your site is Phormed all your content is going to be read and processed whether you want it to or not.
Phorm insist that if you allow google onto your site then your content is fair game and can be read and processed in order for Phorm and the visitors ISP to profit from.
Currently the only solution to stop Phorm from processing your site is to block Google in your robots.txt file....
Your Protected Content Will be Read
Do you have a message board with private forums? Do you have a membership / login system which is not based on https:? Phorm will be able to read all your content off the back of your registered visitors.
Let me give you one good example based on this site.
You see the WebmasterWorld Supporters Forum? It is only available to certain subscribers of WW. If you are not a member you can't come in.
Now Johnny Webmaster is a subscriber of that forum. He has been Phormed. Whenever he visits the WebmasterWorld Supporters Forum Phorm is going to read EVERYTHING Johnny reads.
Do you have a similar message board for private or confidential information? Do you have members who talk about sensitive medical, or financial information which you do not want the general public or search engines to view? Your Phormed visitor is going to let Phorm in and it's system is going to read and process all your information.
Phorm is Going to Direct Your Customers to a Competitor
A Phormed visitor browses your site. This means that your site is helping to make a profile for that visitor. If your site is about exotic holidays then Phorm is going to start showing that visitor ads for your competitors exotic holiday websites for the next few days...
I like the following statement posted in another place:
Google:
Uses keywords from your page content to bring visitors to your web site.
Phorm:
Uses keywords from your page content to draw visitors to someone else's web site.
Worried about your hard work being used make profits for Phorm and ISPs?
[edited by: Frank_Rizzo at 10:19 am (utc) on May 13, 2008]
