BT has been the big name most often associated with Phorm, and BT is currently trialing the advertising system under the guise of BT Webwise with a free phishing protection tool as the payback to the customer. Orange who have around one million broadband customers has gone on the record while talking to the Financial Times to say they are not going to use Phorm at this time.
"Privacy is in our DNA, so we need to be honest and clear about what we are doing. We have decided not to be in Phorm because of that ... The way it was proposed, the privacy issue was too strong."
Paul-François Fournier talking to the FT
Reading further through the article it becomes clearer that Orange are not saying they will never use Phorm, but that at this time they will not. The issue currently centres around the clarity of how private customer's information will be, but they may use Phorm or similar systems in the future after more customer consultation.
One mis-understanding that keeps resurfacing with Phorm, is that some people believe it imposes its own advertising banners on all sites you visit. Phorm based advertising will only appear on sites that are signed up to the Phorm OIX system.
"One mis-understanding that keeps resurfacing with Phorm, is that some people believe it imposes its own advertising banners on all sites you visit."
And phorm keep punting another misunderstanding; that you have a 'choice' on whether your privacy is invaded if you opt out via their cookie.