After a brief phonecall with a BT representative this morning (who at first, denied all knowledge of Phorm) they finally got tired of my incessant badgering and admitted trials had took place, and when asked when the scheme would be implemented fully, he had this to say…

“..It’s [Phorm] not going ahead apparently. I’m told by my immediate manager that after concerns were raised by the press over our limited trial, we have no plans for an implementation.”

Now, until this is confirmed in an official statement, this should be taken with a large pinch of salt - as neither the rep’ or his manager (who relayed the above statement to him) were authorised to announce this, and because I’m a BT customer myself, this could just be their way of keeping me on board, but there’s no smoke without fire, and this could indicate that a full U-turn from the ISP is on the cards.

This is either true, or BT are still actively lying to their customers despite the issue being acknowledged to the press, which raises even greater concerns about what exactly they’re withholding from customers.

BT recently caved to pressure on the opt-out approach to passing users browsing habits to Phorm, and announced they would be making the service opt-in only, after concerns raised by privacy groups about a breach of the Regulation of Investigative Powers Act 2000.

Phorm, formerly known as 121Media, is a digital technology company based in London, New York and Moscow. The company drew attention when it announced it was is in talks with some United Kingdom ISPs to deliver targeted advertising based on a user’s browsing habits by using deep packet inspection.

See also: Phorm is watching you - Who’s watching Phorm?, Phorm outrage escalates: Protestors demand police action

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