i don't know what pronography is but i like the sound of it.

james, falmouth,

This could be the worst time for BT to start this, they will lose customers. Also with the stock exchange crashing, fuel, food etc all going up people have less money than 12 months ago. Buying from websites that are paying more to advertise would mean you have less to spend.

Anne, Manchester, Lancashire

Since nobody outside phorm/webwise knows exactly how the system works, people are only guessing and putting their own "spin" on things.
As for controversy, I think at the last count about 6 people actually contributed to the "outrage" including, if I'm right, Mr Mainwaring who has posted here twice.

Herb, Hereford,

"When users sign up for the system their browsers are tagged with a cookie - a small program ..."

No it's not, a cookie is just a bit of text.

Some commenters are suggesting deleting Phorm's cookies. That will not work, you need to accept their cookie in order to opt out.

Pete Forman, Haywards Heath, UK

legalised spyware! Just another example of how this country is obsessed with keeping tracks on the population.

Dave, Hebden Bridge,

Block cookies from www.webwise.net in your browser, and keep Phorm off your PC.

Paul Freeman, London, England

Just found this article with some tips on what to do about Phorm - it might be helpful?

http://addiator.blogspot.com/2008/03/thwarting-phorm.html

Ben Woodruffe, Sunderland, UK

Paul - the EU has not changed anything (yet). The ICO and BERR have said the system has to be opt-in.

The problem of a user not opting in is still real though. Even if a BT customer does not opt in his data is still copied and processed and thus his / her personal information is infringed.

Stephen Mainwaring, Weston super Mare,

Phorm is utterly pointless commercially unless BT choose to charge advertisers more for said 'targeted advertising' something advertisers can already achieve through ad servers like Doubleclick, Mediaplex and Atlas. BT are being conned basically or they are about to con advertisers more money.

David Walsh, Shrewsbury, UK

Stephen:

"To be Phorm free you have to change ISP"

Not true - BT (after a EU legal fight) has had to make form 'opt in'. Should it fail to adhere the legal bill will out weigh the benefit.

However if you are still paranoid look at Tor. This encrypts your data to SSL BEFORE reaching the ISP +free.

Paul Sullivan, Chester, UK

were are our right to privacy going?!?!

Im sure that will fall under the information t are already gathering about usage.

Think the goverment will not only see what sites you go on but read all about it too!

dave, leicester, uk

I've cancelled my £450 a year package as a result of this intrusiveness.

I think a lot more will follow and that £85 Million won't look as good.

John, Sheffield,

DavidE. Adblock will not help you one bit here. Even if you could block the ads your data will still be intercepted and processed.

Not only what you read on a web page, but in some cases what you type such as the message you typed here.

To be Phorm free you have to change ISP. It's the only way.

Stephen Mainwaring, Weston super Mare,

Well seeing as I block 99% of adverts on sites I visit they are wasting their time.

I use Adblock plus and NO script and haven't seen an ad for ages

And is it a coincidence that two of the most heavily advertised Building societies have just gone bust

David Reading

David E, Reading,

Phorm is just wrong.

It is no different than someone listening to all your telephone calls so they can better guess which leaflets and menus to push through your letterbox.

People should be outraged about this.

Luke, London, UK

Well then, seeing as though advertising is a seriously massive business and BT users and soon others may have no choice about their surfing being tracked and targetted, surely Internet access should be free under these terms.
Internet service providers will become Customer Opportunity Providers.

Peter, Peterborough, Britain

If my ISP decided to do this, I would move to one that doesn't. I think this is going to prove to be a bad business decision by BT.

Unfortunately it is not so easy to move country, otherwise i would do based on what is happening with finger-printing/iris scanning at Terminal 5 etc...

Sam, London,

This is a system you should *not* have to opt out of, but opt in. Further loss of privacy, and not long before this data will begin to be used against us.

Lets home that the profit made from this will be overruled by the loss of business from every forward thinking internet user out there.

Luke

Luke, Manchester,