Phorm, Privacy, and Censorship

The Internet Watch Foundation has hit the news again because they have objected to a 1976 Scorpions album cover and encouraged their Internet Service Provider collaborators to block access to Wikipedia (which has a copy of the cover by their article about the album). IWF have made statements claiming that this censorship is out of their control. You can read more at www.cockspiracy.com (the website of an M6-IT CIC director) and on the BBC and so on.

Previously, the Phone Coop has promised its members and customers that it won't use the Phorm spyware system, http://www.thephone.coop/phorm.html

Would candidates support a similar promise not to allow IWF to censor customer internet connections without permission?

Similar question from BHT:

Privacy: Phorm and LLU packages

Will you ensure the Phone Coop maintains its stance on internet privacy as new packages are offered? For example, the coop has previously announced that "The Phone Co-op strongly opposes the whole principle behind Phorm, especially the loss of privacy involved in the interception of people's personal browsing data....None of our broadband suppliers is working with Phorm at present, and we have sought and received assurances that they will not allow implementation of Phorm on their networks without our permission."

However the Anytime Saver package uses - at least in my case - TalkTalk, one of the "ISPs (Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk) [that] have decided to sell their customer's private browsing history to an advertising broker (Phorm)."
http://www.thephone.coop/phorm.html

Can you reassure us that the Phone Coop's stance has and will be maintained?

Admin wrote:Similar question from BHT:

Privacy: Phorm and LLU packages

Will you ensure the Phone Coop maintains its stance on internet privacy as new packages are offered? For example, the coop has previously announced that "The Phone Co-op strongly opposes the whole principle behind Phorm, especially the loss of privacy involved in the interception of people's personal browsing data....None of our broadband suppliers is working with Phorm at present, and we have sought and received assurances that they will not allow implementation of Phorm on their networks without our permission."

However the Anytime Saver package uses - at least in my case - TalkTalk, one of the "ISPs (Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk) [that] have decided to sell their customer's private browsing history to an advertising broker (Phorm)."
http://www.thephone.coop/phorm.html

Can you reassure us that the Phone Coop's stance has and will be maintained?

I'm in full agreement with the Phone Co-ops stance about Phorm and, as far as I'm concerned, is has and will be maintained. Although the Phone Co-op purchases LLU internet services from Opal, which is the wholesale division of Carphone Warehouse, our service is not 'Talk Talk', which is the Carphone Warehouse's own retail ISP service for consumers. It is Talk Talk who use the Phorm software. Opal Wholesale do not use Phorm software and nor does the Phone Co-op. We can therefore be certain that Phorm is not being used on our LLU internet service with our Anytime Saver package. The same applies to our non-LLU internet service wholesalers.

I think it might be helpful to clarify that our stance on Phorm does not mean that, as a reseller,we will not use any services from businesses owning ISPs who use it. For example, we obviously need to use some services from BT, (who use Phorm with their internet service), or we simply wouldn't be in a position to provide many telecoms services to customers and members.

I hope you found this reply reassuring. Peter Turnbull