BT expects to deploy the controversial
Phorm advertisement-serving
technology following a "brief" period of analysis of the
results of its
third trial.
Phorm said today, "Following the successful completion of
analysis, both of the trial results and of any changes required for
expansion, BT has informed the company that it expects to move
towards deployment."
It declined to say how many users volunteered for the trial, but
said "small numbers" of advertisements had been served.
Earlier, privacy advocates objected when
BT tested the Phorm technology secretly on its user base. They
said the technology infringed their privacy rights be storing
information about their likes and dislikes as revealed in their
web-surfing activities.
Phorm
defended itself at an unprecedented public "town hall meeting".
Later, in a response to an enquiry from the European Commission, it
won support from the Department for Business Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform and the Information Commission under tight
conditions.
Among these conditions were that BT customers must make a
conscious effort to "opt in" to have their details tracked and the
pages they view associated with advertisements served by Phorm.
Phorm had also to ensure that it would be unable to identify
individuals from their surfing history.