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Author Topic: Phorm in the USA  (Read 5146 times)

Offline Jack W

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Phorm in the USA
« Reply #15 on: April 09, 2008, 09:57:56 AM »
QUOTE(sandyman @ Apr 9 2008, 09:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
How to beat Phorm, for now anyway, The Guardian use Safari. It's a pity Safari doesn't have all the nice extensions that Firefox has though  sad.gif  

Still, I suppose I could try installing Privoxy on my router. That would replace some, but not all, of them.

Sandy


Subsequently to clicking on the link above, there were several cookies installed in my cookie jar.
But all of them were set to expire at the end of the current session.
(I deleted them immediately after finding them.)

This shows how easy to get unwanted cookies installed on your system.

Keep on checking them!

- Jack
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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Phorm in the USA
« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2008, 10:07:52 AM »
From my quick scan of the article, it appears that all Safari does is block any ads that might otherwise be 'offered' only because Safari seems to not be recognized as a 'major' web app and/or because of a difference in the way it handles cookies. But your information and use of the Internet can still be monitored and gathered. Of course, my understanding of Phorm is pretty shaky! blush-anim-cl.gif

I'm wondering if something like Witopia's personalVPN would be a more complete way to 'block' Phorm? Again, my understanding of personalVPN is too shallow to determine if it would have any bearing in this situation. I'm probably hoping for too much here. I suspect that Phorm would can still monitor in and out going traffic to you but it would simply assign the 'anonymous' IP address to it instead of what it actually is.
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Offline sandyman

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« Reply #17 on: April 09, 2008, 11:14:17 AM »
The Safari thing may hopefully now be irrelevant for us in the UK according to The Register. On a personal level it appears that there may more good news as my ISP VirginMedia seems to be getting cold feet over Phorm  toothgrin.gif

Sandy
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Offline Mayo

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« Reply #18 on: April 09, 2008, 11:53:04 AM »
xABD, I've done a bit of reading about how Phorm works and if I have it straight using personalVPN would be an effective way to defeat the tracking process.

In order for Phorm to work you must connect to the Internet via an ISP server that is affiliated with Phorm. When using a VPN server you bypass your ISP server altogether because you are actually connecting to the Internet via the VPN server.

Using Apple's Network Utility it is easy to run a traceroute and see exactly how your Internet connection is routed... If I connect in the normal fashion I go through the Charter.net server.  If I connect via personalVPN I am routed through the VPN server; Charter appears nowhere on the traceroute log because my gateway to the Internet is now the personalVPN server and not one of Charter's servers. Data is encrypted up to the point where it exits the VPN server; it is again encrypted when it returns via the VPN server.

The personalVPN server is accessed via an icon in the Finder Menu Bar. A user can choose to always connect via VPN or use it selectively; there are no limits on data transmission.


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Offline sandyman

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« Reply #19 on: April 10, 2008, 09:57:20 AM »
Looks like it's too late for you folks in the US according to a report in  The Register.  

As far as I am aware you don't have the same sort of data protection legislation as the UK and the EU have.  There may be other ways of dealing with it but I really don't know enough about privacy regulations in the US


Sandy
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Offline Jack W

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Phorm in the USA
« Reply #20 on: April 10, 2008, 12:56:37 PM »
Mayo,

Personal VPN sounds very interesting. And the $40/year isn't all that prohibitive.

Could I completely bypass Time-Warner Cable servers?
What would I lose?
What other advantages?
Any disadvantages?

How do I connect to the VPN server? Via the network setup?

Could I completely bypass Time Warner? Probably not, since their cable connects me to the imternet.
Oh, well!  :Drats!: sad.gif

- Thanks, Jack
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Offline Mayo

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« Reply #21 on: April 10, 2008, 01:12:41 PM »
Jack, I believe that most of your questions are answered in my previous post... The only disadvantage is that the VPN connection tends to be slower; when I did my speed tests (see my other VPN-related thread...) the results may have been influenced by the fact that I was connecting late at night when network traffic is presumably much less than during the day.  I'll have to try it again during the middle of a work day.

If you have any questions that aren't answered in my previous posts, fire away!
« Last Edit: April 10, 2008, 05:41:09 PM by Mayo »
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Offline krissel

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« Reply #22 on: April 11, 2008, 12:22:28 AM »
I can see Google putting in some lobbying against this movement in the US since it conflicts with their own intent to develop such a system.

QUOTE
Ironically, the company Phorm and the ISPs are seeking to emulate is well placed to become their most powerful enemy. Google has amassed significant lobbying muscle in Washington DC. Indeed, ambitious UK politicians like Labour's Milibands and the Tories' George Osborne and David Cameron line up to brown-nose the Googleplex. And if you had spent billions to acquire and serve people's web searches, would you be happy that other companies are planning to hijack them direct from HTTP streams and pump them into their own ad targeting network? Thought not.


This is an interesting quote:

QUOTE
We've all seen this movie before, writ large: you can easily think of the happy-clappy revolution of the web's first ten years as a mainstream medium as its own version of the 1960s. If you do that, then the emergence of Phorm and the reaction to it is a signal the come-down is taking hold. Tracked and exploited, web users are entering the fear and loathing of the 1970s.


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/10/is..._target_market/

Heres' an "explanation" of how this is supposed to work:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/29/phorm_documents/
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Offline Mayo

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« Reply #23 on: April 12, 2008, 11:01:16 PM »
I should add that there is another disadvantage to using personalVPN: sometimes a Web site will not play nice when connecting via the VPN server.  It will load very slowly or not at all; I have no idea why it happens.  When it does I just switch to my regular ISP server. Connecting from Europe was also problematic and I have neglected getting in touch with Witopia to see what might be causing problems...

I'm sorry that I didn't include this info in my previous posts; it's just been so long since I experienced a problem that I plumb forgot about these issues...
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #24 on: April 13, 2008, 03:27:44 PM »
That's OK, Mayo, when I enquired about a discount, they suggested that they just bill you for the first year. Sounded fine to me. :tinking: tongue.gif
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THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:
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