Nationwide opts out of Phorm

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.