Cut and Paste to send to the "Non techie"
To make it easy for non techie's to see what is going on here, let me explain it in the context of a system everyone knows about... the phone system.
Imagine that your TSP (Telecom Service Provider) decides to make some extra money on the side by allowing "Targeted Advertising" in the same way that these ISP's (Internet Service Provider's) are with Phorm.
So here Goes:
You make phone calls to your Wife, your Doctor and your Daughter, with the new service, "The Gold Standard in Privacy" Phrom...
What happens is this:
Each time you call, someone from Phrom taps the line and listens in, they have strict instructions to write down all that you say, except numbers with more than 3 digits (to protect against the accidental collection of social security, telephone and credit card numbers), email addresses and calls to your Bank (if you use your scrambler) and to listen for certain key words (which they say will help them send you targeted advertisements tailored to you).
So they hear that you are talking a lot about "Top Gear" and mention "Audi" and "Bentley" so the Profiler writes down "Expensive Cars" - Not against your name but against a "Number" all of the time you are on the phone talking, the profiler keeps listening and adding to the different categories about you.
They also do the same if your children make a call or your grandparents or if you call your Doctor.
Now as soon as you hang up the Profiler is supposed to destroy the notes he took of the conversation
So all of the following should be destroyed:
The time of the call
The number you called.
The details of the call e.g. who you called and what you talked about.
Your Name and Number.
In return for you very kindly letting the Profiler listen in to your calls you get a SupaDuppaService from Phrom its called WebSpy and its free!
How WebSpy Works:
If the Profiler listening into your calls notices that you have called a dodgy number in Russia, which is suspected of terrible behaviour, (like bugging your phone), then the profiler will shout at you to hang up.
How Phrom Targeted Advertising Works:
From time to time the guys listening into the calls you are making will notice that you have called one of their members numbers.
The member will, without you knowing, pass the Profiler a note asking what you like.
Then the profiler will shout at you to buy a Expensive Car from this guy.
Wow what a great service that is!?
Its certainly worth giving up a little bit of privacy and having someone from Phrom listening in to all your calls isn't it?!
Notes:
"Phorm's systems collect browsing information such as URLs visited, search terms entered, OS version, relevant keywords of a particular page and randomly-generated unique Ids.