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There has been a recent mild controversy over Phorm's patented technology which tracks web-surfing habits so that users can be presented with targeted advertising. Phorm is able to derive a user's 'interests' from the web pages visited and send advertising deemed to be appropriate to what the user is researching or looking for. The controversial bit is that this is seen by some as a form of spying.
This is a storm in a tea-cup. Phorm's technology does not link the anonymous web-user's surfing habits with any private or individual information by which they could be identified - unlike similar technologies employed by Google and other search engines. The controversy has actually arisen because the pilot schemes are run by some of the UK's best known ISPs in partnership with Phorm. This has led to "BT spies on its customers" claims as BT, Talk Talk and Virgin have all decided to implement trials with their internet customers.
If targeted advertising on the web is morally evil, Phorm's technology and business model makes it neither more nor less so. If tracking the websites that private individuals visit is an infringement of human rights, it could be argued that Phorm has advanced the cause of liberty, it seems, by decoupling personal information from addresses visited. Saints they are not, but are they really doing anything more intrusive than their competitors?
Phorm's idea - along with a series of other innovations by providers such as Microsoft (see The Corpse Twitches) - is another mosquito on the Google elephant's rump. No doubt when there are enough mosquito's Google will respond. But we should never take the big G's domination of online advertising for granted. Things can change very quickly on the internet.
These developments represent an opportunity for web-site owners, who in the case of Phorm's scheme are expected to receive approximately 75 per cent of the ad revenues. If you have built a popular site, and its content and style suits online advertising, you might bring in a significant amount of extra revenues through schemes like Phorm's. There again, advertising could alienate your visitors... it usually does! It all depends on the context.
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