Phorm (WebWise), the controversial system that works with ISPs to monitor what websites you visit for use in targeted advertising campaigns, has received some rather unexpected support from industry regulator Ofcom.

Ofcom's CEO, Ed Richards, was quoted at last weeks’ Media and Telecom's 2009 and Beyond conference, where he appeared to offer his unwavering support to the system (Phorm Blog):


Privacy advocates will no doubt be understandably concerned by the wording, especially since Ofcom as a regulator must be seen to have taken on board opposing views, of which there are many. Deep fears continue to surround Phorm, not least with any implementation that uses the fallible cookie method to track opt-in/out status.