Advertising Controversy

BT, the U.K.’s largest Internet provider has opted out of using “Phorm”, a large-scale behavioral advertiser. Phorm can gather information about the surfers on a particular ISP and then tailor ads to the persons needs and wants. For example, if a certain user frequents car sites, and automobile tuning sites, then they will likely see ads about motor oil, tires, and the like. Phorm’s philosophy is that, instead of being bombarded with random advertisements that the people probably won’t be interested in, they will create product demographics by performing an involuntary interview with the person, and figure out their likes and interests. BT is still interested in the program, but chose to take the philanthropically route and use their money to bring people the fastest Internet possible, and all of the technological advances that come with it.

Phorm knows it has an intuitive and breakthrough technology, and charges a pretty penny for its services. What ads of old would charge to be posted is nothing compared to the fees Phorm would charge, but for good reason. Think about it, if a guy interested in football and weightlifting gets a pop-up about the latest Cabbage Patch Kid to hit the scene, he will most likely just grunt and dislike dolls even more after he smacked the “x” button. Phorm aims to eliminate these ill-placed ads and replace them with ads that are custom fit to the user’s needs. Based on his habits of browsing NFL’s website, managing his fanatical fantasy football team, and ordering protein shakes, Phorm would conclude ads showing these types of products would be most appealing to him, and more likely to get him to buy than would the new clothing options on the hot new Barbie doll.

As one can imagine though, there are many security and privacy risks with this new technology. Such concerns are inherent with the nature of the product, as it (without permission) inspects your browsing history and other documents you view in order to find out what interests you. Privacy advocate groups believe this is just one step closer to the dystopian world of 1984, and are fighting against it. The program assures the public that no information is personally recognizable and no names are kept while the browsing is in progress, only numbers and incoherent data.

In some areas, the concerns for privacy invasion have been too much for these behavioral advertisers. Nebuad, an advertiser like Phorm, withdrew from the market after a controversy over its blatant privacy invasions put it on the blacklist for many ISPs. Analyzing people’s data is a strong gray area, and these companies must be careful to walk the line carefully, lest they fall over and snoop somewhere they shouldn’t have.

BT found themselves the subject of such criticism after they, unbeknownst to their customers, ran Phorm for around three months. The people caught on, and many resigned from the Internet Service Provider because they felt betrayed and unprotected.

As more and more major ISPs are considering running this software, Phorm could be the status quo of online advertising. While it does seems useful to get advertisements tailored to your interests rather than complete guesswork that is usually completely off, one must ponder the repercussions of allowing such an open window into our Internet habits just so people can solicit products we MIGHT enjoy.