Phorm is conducting the largest trial of its controversial
online advert-targeting technology with its first customer outside
the UK.
The deal with South Korean broadband provider KT will give Phorm
with the opportunity to prove its technology on one of the world's
most advanced networks, according to the Financial Times.
Korea has 15 million broadband subscribers, and Phorm estimates
that the online advertising market is worth £1.1bn a year.
Opposition from privacy groups has delayed full UK
implementation of the Phorm technology, which helps advertisers
target web users based on their browsing habits.
Only a limited trial with
10,000 BT customers has been conducted in the UK. Virgin Media
and Carphone Warehouse have also signed deals with Phorm, but no
trials have been announced.
Privacy campaigners have sent
an open letter to leading web companies demanding they resist
the introduction of the Phorm tracking system by BT, Virgin and
TalkTalk.
The future of behavioural targeting technologies like Phorm's is
uncertain in Europe, where officials could rule that consumer
profiling by advertisers breaches privacy laws.
In the UK, opponents of the Phorm technology maintain that it is
illegal under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
Earlier this month,
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer, Liberal Democrat home
affairs spokeswoman, asked the government to delay the roll out of
Phorm technology until its legality had been established.