BT to retry Phorm marketing

BT is to trial a controversial new online advertising technology developed by Phorm.

This will be the second attempt by the telecoms company to try the Webwise technology, after its earlier attempts were criticised for breaching privacy.

Webwise works by analysing individual user’s data and delivers targeted adverts based on their behaviour.

However, the firm claims that the latest version of the trial will be opt-in rather than being automatically included as in the first trial.

It also notes that no personally identifiable data will be stored.

A spokesperson told the BBC: “If it goes according to plan it’s our expectation that we will roll it out across the entire broadband customer base.”

BT also claim that the system will help tackle fraud by flagging up potentially dangerous websites before users visit them.

The trial is expected to run for at least four weeks and could include up to 10,000 customers.