29 February '08
THE INTERNET SCANDAL
Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk sell their souls
Three of the UK's largest Internet Service Providers (ISP) have decided to sell your private browsing history to an advertising broker. Yes, the entire list of every web page you visit gets sent to Phorm (the broker) in real time, as you click, so they can send you 'targeted advertising'.
Naturally the ISP's are not too keen on telling their users this, they'd much rather feed us all platitudes about how it'll help combat phishing and how the targeted adverts will be so much better than the random ones we see today. In fact, they didn't even announce it to the UK press, we had to find out about it from the New York Times!
Here's what the NYT had to say on the subject of Phorm...
LONDON — For years, Internet service providers have watched with envy as the likes of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft sliced up the online advertising pie. Selling Internet access has been a good business, but selling Web advertising has been an even more lucrative one. Now, three Internet providers in Britain have teamed up to try to obtain a piece of online advertising for themselves. The three companies — BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media — announced a deal last week with a company called Phorm, whose technology tracks Web users and sends them ads related to their interests. .....(snip) The three Internet providers have agreed to give Phorm access to customers’ browsing records, letting it track a Web user’s every move. That way, the Internet exchange can send an ad directly to a select audience anywhere on the Web, rather than hoping that the user lands on a site displaying the ad.
Read the full article for yourself here.. New York Times
- Who is Phorm anyway?
Phorm is an internet marketing company. They make money by selling advertising on web pages to various companies through their brokerage which they call the Open Internet Exchange (OIX). You can find out more about Phorm and the OIX from their website (http://www.phorm.com) but beware of the marketing-speak!
- What's so different about that, google has been doing it for years!
Google's advertising relies solely on Google's own database to 'target' it's adverts. It does this based on the content of the page you're viewing, and doesn't use any kind of browsing history unless you specifically opt-in (by creating a Google account). Phorm on the other hand targets it's advertising based solely on your browsing history, which it collects direct from your ISP. You can theoretically opt-out of Phorm's tracking but your browsing details will still be passed to them, they just claim not to use them if you opt out.
- So you're saying I can't opt out at all?
Partly correct. If your ISP is Virgin Media, BT or Talk Talk, your browsing details WILL be sent to Phorm, regardless of whether you have chosen not to take part in their targeted advertising scheme or not. You have only Phorm's word that they do not track the browsing history of those who have chosen to opt out, and you have no way to verify the truth or otherwise of that statement.
- So what do they actually see?
Phorm doesn't just see the URL of every page you visit, they see the entire content of every single web page (with the exception of encrypted pages). That means they can read your mail if you use most types of webmail, view all the posts you make or read on web forums, obtain the content of most webforms you complete, in fact just about anything you do on the web that is not encrypted can be hoovered up by Phorm. Phorm claim they do not store this information for more than 14 days.
- What do they store?
According to their website, Phorm store an aggregate history of your browsing, not a detailed history of each page you visit. Even so, such a history would reveal considerable detail about your browsing and potentially about your personal life.
- Can this history be tied to my identity?
Phorm claim they do not store any personally identifiable information (including IP addresses) or interface with any ISP systems that would allow them to identify you, however they assign each user a unique 'tracking ID' which relates directly to their browsing profile. If someone connected the ID to any piece of personally identifying information your browsing history would no longer be anonymous.
- I heard Phorm was associated with a rootkit, is that true?
It may be true. One of our users (see the news post by TB here) has discovered compelling evidence which indicates Phorm and 121 Media are to all intents and purposes the same company. Their CEO (Kent Ertugrul) was certainly associated with People On Page, the company who developed and deployed the Apropos rootkit (see analysis by F-Secure here). In an article published by the Mail on Sunday, Phorm's CEO has admitted to being behind PeopleOnPage and their Apropos rootkit. While still not absolutely confirmed there is increasing evidence of a direct link between PeopleOnPage and 121Media (now Phorm).
- Someone said Phorm was linked to Russia, is it true?
Yes, there is a clear link between Phorm and Russia. Phorm employ Russian programmers ("The development team for the new software was recruited from Moscow's elite Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering, a vital part of of the Cold War spying effort and still a centre for developing Russia's 'national security' computer systems." - Mail on Sunday article) and have been indirectly linked to the Russian security services by a Mail on Sunday article (full article is here)
How you can fight back.
BadPhorm.co.uk gives us a few examples of how you can fight this scandal on their web site, located here.
What are your thoughts on this story?
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Thanks to BadPhorm.co.uk for providing us with the information contained on this page.
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