One of PlusNet's broadband customers was left feeling a bit surprised yesterday morning after he was greeted by a new webpage containing an invitation to BT's controversial Webwise (Phorm) trial. The message stated: "As a BT Total Broadband customer, you can try an exciting new service called BT Webwise."

Phorm works with ISPs to monitor what websites you visit for use in targeted advertising campaigns, though its methods have raised many legal and privacy concerns. Needless to say that BT's current trial is not supposed to be accessible by other ISPs.

PlusNet itself is owned by BT, though it is still a largely independent operation. The ISP has since issued the following statement to Thinkbroadband, blaming the issue on a configuration error:


The original concern was raised in a post via PlusNet's community forum, which can be read HERE. Phorm is a thorny subject for some and even a small incident like this is bound to spark off a few concerned topics.