Phorm

Phorm, formerly known as 121Media, is a digital technology company known for its contextual advertising software. Phorm is incorporated in Delaware but announced plans to incorporate in Singapore in 2012. Founded in 2002, the company originally distributed programs that were considered spyware, from which they made millions of dollars in revenue. It has since stopped distributing those programs after complaints from groups in the United States and Canada, and announced it was talking with several United Kingdom Internet service providers (ISPs) to deliver targeted advertising based on the websites that users visit. Phorm currently partners with ISPs Oi, Telefonica in Brazil, Romtelcom in Romania and TTNet in Turkey. In June 2012, Phorm announced that it would raise £20m for a 20% stake in its Chinese subsidiary.

The company's proposed advertising system, called Webwise, is a behavioral targeting service (similar to NebuAd) that uses deep packet inspection to examine traffic. Phorm says the data collected will be anonymous and will not be used to identify users, and that their service would even include protection against phishing (fraudulent collection of users' personal information). Nonetheless, World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee and others have spoken out against Phorm for tracking users' browsing habits, and the ISP BT Group has been criticised for running secret trials of the service.

The UK Information Commissioner's Office had voiced legal concerns with Webwise as it is currently implemented, and has said it would only be legal as an "opt-in" service, not an opt-out system. The European Commission had called on the UK to protect Web users' privacy, and opened an infringement proceeding against the country in regard to ISPs' use of Phorm. Some groups, including Amazon.com and the Wikimedia Foundation (the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia and other collaborative wiki projects), have already requested an opt-out of their websites from scans by the system. Phorm has change to an opt-in policy. According to Phorm’s website, the company will not collect any data from users who have not explicitly opted into its services. Users must provide separate consent for each web browsing device they use.