Wikimedia, who manage Wikipedia among other sites have announced via their blog that they have officially opted out of Phorm's deep packet inspection system.  In their blog article, they indicate that one of their concerns is that by opting out, they might somehow legitimise Phorm's system.  After due consideration, they decided the appropriate action would be to opt out of the system, and they show an extensive list of URLs that have been removed.

More good news on a week of exceptionally good news on the Phorm phront.

The first evening event of the NBRC club time trial series! It was also the first event on the F5d/10 since the New Year's Day'10'.

Somewhat ominously, I woke to the sound of a 5am thunderstorm.  Still, I reckoned, over 12 hours before the event, plenty of time for the weather to clear up (the BBC forecast was for sunshine)!  Indeed, when I turned up to the club room at about 6.20, it was not only sunny, but very warm. 

I blogged the other day that there might be an interesting conflict of interest in Lord Carter's office (Why Lord Carter is pro-Phorm?).  Lord Carter of course wrote the Digital Britain report, and is a bit of a mover and shaker in Government circles when it comes to digital issues such as broadband rollout (remember Phorm claim their technology will help fund broadband expansion).  The news revolved around the fact that among other activities, Phorm's Kip Meeks works as an advisor to Lord Carter.

Chris Williams of The Register has been digging (The Register - Phorm director advises UK.gov broadband minister):

Richard Clayton has a nice, very clearly written article on what is wrong with Phorm, over at The Guardian (Whitehall's got Phorm).  This should be required reading by news reporters who fail to grasp the real issue is the interception issue, and not the targeted adverts.

Meanwhile, Simon Davies of 80/20 Thinking and Privacy International, who has failed to make meaningful statements about Phorm (but who works as advisor to Phorm via 80/200, is quoted in an Independent report on the EC action (Internet privacy: Britain in the dock) as saying:

More good news on the Phorm phront.  Alex Hanff over at nodpi.org reports that Amazon exclude all their domains from Phorm's WebWise.  It has long seemed to me that it's the commercial angle that would sink Phorm's devious and parasitic plans.  Hot on the heels of the news that LiveJournal have requested exclusion from the Phorm dpi system, comes the news that Amazon, possibly the biggest internet retailer is to do likewise.

This may the the beginning of an unstoppable momentum, and follows a lengthy (and it would seem effective) campaign led by the likes of Alex Hanff, who has worked tirelessly, with more energy than I have available to work towards the extinction of Phorm's dpi.

All action on the Phorm phront today.  Hot on the heels of the EC press release revealing they are taking action against the UK over Phorm comes the news that 80/20 Thinking will no longer undertake advisory work for companies (BBC News - Privacy firm drops advisory work).  This follows accusations that one of the firms founders, Simon Davies, also works for the privacy lobby group Privacy International.  The conflict of interest revolves around Davies association with Phorm - many commentators have remarked how lukewarm PI's response to the many issues of privacy that have been raised by Phorm's ISP level deep packet inspection system.

The BBC is reporting that the European Commission have launched an action against Britain over the Phorm phiasco (EC starts legal action on Phorm):

The news that police have raided a meeting of climate campaigners on suspicion of plotting a protest at a power station near Nottingham (BBC News - Police hold 114 in power protest) doesn't seem to have been questioned - isn't this a bit odd? After the arrested hadn't actually protested, nor had they even set of to start their protest.

Now it transpires (BBC News -  Power station protesters released) that all 114 protesters (or should I say, would-be protesters) have been on bail, but without charge.  At least an MP has now questioned whether this was a proportionate response: Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson has reportedly raised concerns over the nature of the policing operation, and whether it was really proportionate:"

Lord Carter is the author of a report for the UK Government, Digital Britain.  The UK Government, its Departments and other agencies have been remarkably ineffective over the fracas about Phorm's deep packet inspection technology, its covert testing by BT in 2006 and 2007, and its more open testing by BT on 2008.

Well, what's this in a Guardian report (Government's broadband-for-all pledge in jeopardy)?

The Open Rights Group have set up a spiffy site, Statebook,  to illustrate the dangers of the burgeoning Database State in the UK. 

It's an effectve illustration of how the UK's intrusive data collection habits threaten our liberties and freedom, and how the future looks to be mapped out.  The recent report from the Joseph Rowntree Trust revealed that not only is our government remarkably keen to get their dibs on considerable quantities of data on us and our movements, but that it's equally inept in obeying data protection regulations.