TalkTalk cuts contract with Phorm

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TalkTalk has followed BT's lead and distanced itself from behavioural advertising firm Phorm.

On Monday, BT said it had no plans to implement the deep packet inspection system, sending Phorm's shares sliding.

It was confirmed today that Carphone Warehouse's ISP arm TalkTalk no longer has a contract with Phorm, a day after Carphone's chief executive Charles Dunstone said: "We were only going to do it if BT did it and if the whole industry was doing it. We were not interested enough to do it on our own."

Phorm admitted in a statement earlier today that TalkTalk had "unfortunately" decided to end its agreement with the firm on 7 July, the day after BT's announcement.

Phorm stressed that it still technically has a commercial agreement with BT, as well as one with Virgin Media. BT is the only UK ISP to trial the system.

That said, Phorm remains confident. "The company continues to make excellent progress and is actively engaged in more than 15 markets worldwide including advanced negotiations with eight major ISPs of which three are engaged in trials," the statement said. Just one trial, in Korean, has been made public.

Phorm's troubles this week have been welcomed by privacy campaigners - as well as many IT PRO readers.

Click here to read the short history of Phorm in the UK.

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