BT will kick off its
public trial of the controversial Phorm ad-serving software
tomorrow.
The move comes days after the City of London police
dropped an investigation into the legality of two previous
secret trials.
BT hopes to get 10,000 users to sign up to the trial, which it
expects will last at least four weeks. BT said the delay in
starting the trial, dubbed BT Webwise, originally expected in
summer, was caused by to technical issues that were now
resolved.
Phorm plans further trials with Virgin Media and Carphone
Warehouse's TalkTalk after the BT trial ends. Phorm said it has had
"a significant level of commercial interest" from other ISPs in the
UK and abroad, as well as major agencies, publishers and ad
networks.
"Following successful completion of these trials and an
appropriate planning period, it is currently expected that Phorm's
platform will be rolled-out across these networks, a Phorm
spokesman said.
Civil liberties activists argue that Phorm and BT
illegally
collected and stored users' personal data. The data was used to
develop "profiles" of users' interests in order to serve ads to
them as they surfed the net.
The Information Commissioner's Office, the Department of
Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and others have
given Phorm the all-clear. A strict rules of conduct includes
an explicit "opt-in" decision and to keep users anonymous to the ad
server.
BT has
revised the terms and conditions of its Total Broadband and
Total Broadband Anywhere products to comply with the new rules for
those who opt in the trial.
Phorm declined to say whether the ads would be paid for, how
many ads would be served or who was going to advertise during the
trial.
"All I can say is is that it is not the FT.com, iVillage,
Universal McCann, MGM OMD or Unanimis," said a spokesman.