Nationwide opts out of Phorm

UK— Nationwide Building Society has become the latest company to tell Phorm it does not want its web pages scanned by the firm’s targeted advertising software, Webwise.

Res_4000529_nationwide

In a statement, the building society said: “Nationwide intends to opt out of allowing Phorm to collect data about users accessing the Nationwide website in order to protect the privacy of its customers.” Nationwide’s decision follows similar moves by online retailer Amazon and Wikimedia, which owns online encyclopedia Wikipedia and other reference sites.

A Phorm spokesman told Research: “There is a process in place to allow publishers to contact Phorm and opt out of the system, but we do not comment on individual cases.”

Earlier this month internet service providers BT and Carphone Warehouse backed away from implementing the technology on their networks, although BT said that privacy concerns were not an issue in its decision.

Virgin Media, the third UK-based ISP to have been in negotiations with Phorm, is yet to make a final decision whether to implement Webwise.

Phorm says it is having better luck outside the UK. It says it is engaged in 15 markets worldwide and is in “advanced negotiations with several major ISPs”.

Webwise monitors a user’s internet browsing in order to match them with relevant adverts.

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

1 Comment

bluecar1

now we need other bank etcs to opt-out to protect their customers and revenue i also notice phorm are no longer quoting korea telecom as trialing webwise, has that died the same way as BT's trial, due to the same speed issues reported as soon as the kit was activated? peter

Like Report

Display name

Email

Join the discussion


Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts