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UK ISPs To Start Tracking Your Surfing To Serve You Ads

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the weak-anonymizers-and-other-fun-party-tricks dept.

TechDirt has an interesting article about a UK-based company that is trying to work with ISPs to make use of user surfing data to serve targeted ads. "Late last year, we heard about a company that was trying to work with ISPs to make use of that data themselves to insert their own ads based on your surfing history -- and now we've got the first report of some big ISPs moving into this realm. Over in the UK three big ISPs, BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media have announced plans to use your clickstream data to insert relevant ads as you surf through a new startup called Phorm."

8 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. nice by R3N3G4D3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    so now my family can enjoy the advertisements based on the porn I was watching earlier that week?

    1. Re:nice by moderatorrater · · Score: 4, Funny

      Everybody likes horses and other farm animals, right?

    2. Re:nice by Mr.+Roadkill · · Score: 3, Funny

      Everybody likes horses and other farm animals, right?
      Maybe his kids will appreciate seeing pictures of others their own age with similar interests. Plus, most kids these days don't get to see anywhere near enough of Grandma.
  2. Porn ads? by PIPBoy3000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So if my wife starts getting a lot of ads for porn, do you think she'll put two and two together?

    1. Re:Porn ads? by Wandering+Wombat · · Score: 2, Funny

      Will she put two and two together? Probably not... http://www.xkcd.com/

      --
      I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
    2. Re:Porn ads? by edwardpickman · · Score: 4, Funny
      So if my wife starts getting a lot of ads for porn, do you think she'll put two and two together?

      She may just assume it's because of her own porn surfing?

    3. Re:Porn ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      If she gets too upset, just be logical to her (we all know women need logical arguments, specially in situations like this).
      Tell her that getting thinner would help things a bit, and that perhaps she could do a bit better with her personal hygiene.

      I've never tried that myself, but I think it will sort things out.

  3. In other news.... by maillemaker · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...advertisements for KY Jelly skyrocket...

    --
    A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.