A co promises the deepest data mining yet

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Web addresses to get more leewayYahoo board to discuss Microsoft offerFoundation behind Wikipedia hires a felon as COOMicrosoft, Google, Yahoo to settle gambling claims

: Amid debate over how much data companies like Google and Yahoo should gather about people who surf the Web, one new company is drawing attention—and controversy—by boasting that it will collect the most complete information of all.

The company, called Phorm, has created a tool that can track every single online action of a given consumer, based on data from that person’s Internet service provider. The trick for Phorm is to gain access to that data, and it is trying to negotiate deals with telephone and cable companies, like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, that provide broadband service to millions.

Phorm’s pitch to these companies is that its software can give them a new stream of revenue from advertising. Using Phorm’'s comprehensive views of individuals, the companies can help advertisers show different ads to people based on their interests. “As you browse, we’re able to categorise all of your Internet actions,” said Virasb Vahidi, the chief operating officer of Phorm. “We actually can see the entire Internet.”

Phorm is not the first company to realise that providers of broadband services are sitting on deep caches of consumer data. Other advertising companies like Front Porch, NebuAd, Adzilla and Project Rialto are trying to do much the same thing. What distinguishes Phorm is the success—and scrutiny—it has had in the British market.

Three major Internet service providers in Britain—BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media—have signed on to work with Phorm, which is incorporated in Delaware and was founded in 2002. Phorm says that these deals give it access to the Web-surfing habits of 70 percent of the British households with broadband.

Phorm requires its partner companies to let customers opt out of the tracking, but it leaves it up to those partners to determine how to tell people about the opt-out option.

The British government is investigating the privacy ramifications of this system, and consumer advocates in Britain say that it should be set up as an opt-in, if it is allowed at all. An influential research center called the Foundation for Information Policy Research has called Phorm’s system illegal and has asked the government to stop it.