[drivetowin]

I think it is important though (as I have said in previous Phorm threads) to a) separate the privacy issue from the affiliate bottom line issue and b) not get swept away on a tide of hype.

There is not one document produced so far (that I'm aware of anyway) that shows that Phorm changes any webpage unless that publisher has signed a commercial agreement for Phorm to show ads on their website - which makes Phorm just like any other adserving network. If anyone can show me one I would genuinely like to read it. The University of Cambridge document actually confirms that Phorm does not change webpages without permission.

While we may not like it as affiliates, most end-users would rather see targetted advertising and most advertiser would rather deliver targetted advertising (since theoretically at least conversion rates should be higher all other things being equal) - but to deliver targetted advertising you have to gather the demographics to target somehow.

Which brings us to the privacy issue - yes this is an issue and some people will get paranoid about it , but to most people I doubt they will give it a second thought. Speak to the average man in the street about Phorm and most will probably not have a clue what you are on about - when probably 90%+ of home wireless networks operate with no encryption whatsoever, and a good number of people run their pcs with no anti-virus and no anti-spyware apps then I can't see most people getting too worked up over something happening at their ISP.

Yes there is an argument that Phorm should be opt-in rather than opt-out, but if they had opted for opt-in then no doubt you would have people saying 'we were tricked into opting in' - rather like the Jamster scenario a while ago, you can put t's and c's in front of people until they are blue in the face, most wil still go, yeah, yeah, yeah where do I sign without even reading the first line (and then bleat like wounded sheep when it later turns around to bite them on the backside).

So far, the only issue I can see that directly affects affiliates is the 307 issue with cookies and Opera but given that for my portfolio of sites in the last month, less than 1% of users use Opera I don't think that impact is going to be too great.

I'm not sure I follow the "Phorm is stealing content" argument - surely if that is the case then Google, MSN, Yahoo etc are stealing content too - or do you not think they actually profile people's viewing habits? - there must be some aroma free coffee floating around somewhere cos some people sure have trouble smelling it.

I'm not saying I agree with Phorm, I would rather it didn't exist - I just think we need to be careful to have balanced argument and not just envy that someone has thought of something more effective than we ever could - and at the very least we should be professional enough to give them the opportunity to respond now Kevin has pointed them at these threads.

Oh, and before anyone asks, I have no financial or other interest in Phorm, I just don't like witchhunts either.