Bell Canada will Use Network Usage Information for "select purposes"

Bell Canada is going to use its customers (starting with mobile subscribers) data usage information for a number of purposes, including the controversial behavioral advertising. The way it is done (with opt-out option only, see below) brings back past incidents in the UK (Phorm) and US (Nebuad) - all  ended up with lawsuits (see "Paper: The Use of DPI for Behavioral Advertising (Case Study: Nebuad and Phorm)" - here).

In addition, Bell say it may share information that identifies customers personally with its affiliates (a very wide defenition, usually). 

Bell's web page "How does Bell respect my privacy?" (here) explains that "Your privacy is an important priority at Bell, and so is providing an experience that best meets your needs .. Today we want to tell you about some important updates relating to new uses of information".

"Starting on November 16, 2013, Bell will begin using certain information about your account and network usage for select purposes, such as continuing to improve network performance and product offers through new business and marketing reports, making some of the ads and marketing partner offers you see more relevant to you, and providing increased levels of fraud detection and prevention. We will not share any information that identifies you personally outside of Bell Canada and its affiliates.

Initially, this applies only to Bell Mobility customers but we look forward to expanding it to tv and internet customers in the future. Remember, no customer is required to participate. If you don't want your data used for relevant advertising, we won't use it.

Network usage information, such as:

• Web pages visited from your mobile device or your Internet access at home. This may include search terms that have been used.
• Location
• App and device feature usage
• TV viewing
• Calling patterns

If you do not want us to use your information for any of the purposes described above, you can opt out.

Paper: The Use of DPI for Behavioral Advertising (Case Study: Nebuad and Phorm)

  

From time to time we see the return of Behavioral Advertising as a business opportunity for ISPs, despite the loud crash of these services few years ago. 

Recently I reported on several deployments - in Nigeria, Turkey, SaskTel, Marriott Hotels, Orange France, Romania and more. Today's deployments are usually based on an opt-in service, a very different model from the "we dont tell you what we do" model that failed the earlier players - Nebuad and Phorm (which is still there - see "Phorm's New Chinese Operation Valued at $155M" - here and behind some of the above deployments). 

A new research by Andreas Kuehn and Milton Mueller (pictured), Syracuse University, School of Information Studies, examines the political issues behind this service.

Abstract: 

 
This paper examines the use of deep packet inspection (DPI) in online advertising, and analyzes the effects public pressure, regulatory actions and judicial and policy-making proceedings had on those deployments. The research is part of a larger project on the effects of DPI on Internet governance which is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation [see "NSF Funds Research on DPI" - here]. DPI, which allows Internet service providers (ISPs) to monitor the content of data packets in real-time, can be considered a disruptive technology because of the way its use conflicts with pre-established principles and norms of Internet governance. 

In this comparative study, we examine the rise and fall of NebuAd in the U.S. and of Phorm in Europe. We also include some less visible companies and spill-overs to Brazil and South Korea. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of these cases – from the early development and secret trials of the technology to the regulatory actions, business failures and litigation in the aftermath. Looking at a timeline of several years that covers the dynamic technical, economic and institutional interactions at play, the framework contrasts distinct actors, actor constellations and modes of interaction across institutional settings to illustrate similar and divergent policy outcomes. This research is based upon comprehensive analysis of political and legal documents and a series of interviews with DPI vendors, Internet advocates, engineers, and advertisers.

The narrative follows four stages that we have found in similar case studies of DPI deployments: 1) unilateral, secret deployment, 2) uncontrolled public disclosure of the deployment, 3) civil activism around net neutrality and privacy norms, 4) political, legal and regulatory proceedings to resolve the conflicts. This framework highlights the interaction of technical, economic and institutional factors that are at work when politically contested technologies with a disruptive potential are deployed on the Internet. In this case, as in many others, the analysis shows how the deployments ran afoul of established principles and expectations and how the “notification” and “consent” practices so crucial to privacy law failed to bridge the gap between the expectations of Internet users and the formal legal definition applied by the courts. We show how this gap led to intense political pressure and market exit of DPI-based advertising platforms in both countries.

See and download from "Profiling the Profilers: Deep Packet Inspection and Behavioral Advertising in Europe and the United States" - here

Ad Insertion Deployments [160]: TTNET [Turkey] Deploys Phorm

Phorm announced that "..we have now installed our system within the network of leading Turkish ISP TTNET [a subsidiary of Türk Telekom], which has around 6m Turkish broadband lines. We are in the process of sending ‘opt-in’ invitations to TTNET’s subscribers and, as with Phorm’s operations in both Brazil [Oi and Telefonica - here] and Romania [see "Romtelecom Launching Personalized Ad Insertion Service, Using Phorm" - here], we have been delighted with the results which are in excess of our expectations". 

Number of Broadband Subscribers, TTNET;
Source: Turk Telekom Group

Kent Ertugrul, CEO, said: "TTNET is the fourth ISP with whom  we have deployed and this reflects a growing realization by ISPs around the world that Phorm’s solution provides significant benefits for consumers, ISPs, advertisers and publishers alike .. The scale of our operations in Turkey represents a significant revenue opportunity for Phorm and the initial advertiser and publisher reaction to our 

proposition has been very encouraging". 

See "Commencement of Commercial Activities in Turkey with TTNET" - here.

Phorm's New Chinese Operation Valued at $155M

Phorm, one of the pioneers of behavioral advertising (background - here), restarts - this time in China.

The company announced it has "..entered into agreements to raise £20m via a subscription for a 20% equity stake in an operating subsidiary for Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China (“Phorm China”). The equity subscription gives Phorm China a post-money valuation of £100m".

"At the end of 2011 it is estimated that China had in excess of 500m internet users, making it the world’s largest internet market. The total online advertising market in China was estimated to be $5.97bn in 2011, being the world’s third largest market".

See also "Romtelecom Launching Personalized Ad Insertion Service, Using Phorm" - here.

The company also announced its "intention to re-domicile the holding company of the group from Delaware to Singapore" (here).

See "£20m equity fundraising into Phorm China" - here.

Romtelecom Launching Personalized Ad Insertion Service, Using Phorm

     

Yes, carrier behavioral advertising is back - as well as Phorm, one of the early players whose acts in the previous round nearly terminated the space for nearly 3 years.

 

Last week we saw that Orange France (DSL) "likes to know you better" (here) - and now - "With no public debate before the launch at the end of September, Romtelecom has presented a new service called MyClicknet, which basically implements the Phorm behavioural advertising solution with an opt-in approach".

All aspects of the new service are very similar to the one Orange is offering, with the same need to look deep into the traffic: " .. almost all traffic (browsing and searches) on port 80 from Internet users that opt-in for such a system will be scanned in order to create a profile that can be sold to interested advertising companies. Romtelecom insists that no personal data is recorded or kept and the user is identified in the ad network based on an anonymous string of characters. Romtelecom also claims that the system will not scan any type of "delicate subjects", such as content related to smoking, pornography, alcohol, drugs, health issues or related to children under 14 years old"

Romtelecom , jointly owned by OTE, Greece (54%) and The Ministry of Communications and Information Society (MCSI), Romania (46%), has close to 1.1M broadband subscribers, 33% of the local market (June '11, here). The carriers' press release - "Surf the web directly to the point: MyClicknet from Romtelecom" - here - says - "The new service is another Romtelecom initiative to enrich its customers’ online experience via new services"

See "Phorm gets back on the European stage" - here.  

[WSJ] Carrier Ad-Insertion Returns!

 
While the FCC goes back to its Net Neutrality plans (see "FCC Moving on Net Neutrality?" - here), the Wall Street Journal had a front page (at least in its iPad edition) story on ad-insertion, or behavioral advertising, a revenue generation opportunity for carriers

I covered this space in the past, about companies that disappeared (Nebuad & Phorm - here and here) and those that are still there (Xerocole - here, Kindsight - here). The basic concept was targeted advertising, based on subscribers’ behavior with revenues shared by the vendor and the carrier.

DPI is needed for the ad-insertion process in order to analyze subscribers' traffic and make it more efficient by re-directing only relevant traffic to the behavioral processing. Privacy problem, and lack of disclosure made some of the players go away - and brought an investigation against BT that was secretly using Phorm back in 2006 (see "BT's Phorm trial lands UK Government in court" - here).


Source: Wall Street Journal



Now, the Wall Street Journal (see "Shunned Profiling Method On the Verge of Comeback" - here) reports that business sees a comeback (following Japan? - here). I guess the choice of the word "profiling" (not allowed in the US) shows the authors' sentiment for the move. Some quotes, from a rather long article:

Now, two U.S. companies, Kindsight Inc. and Phorm Inc., are pitching deep packet inspection services as a way for Internet service providers to claim a share of the lucrative online ad market.

Kindsight and Phorm say they protect people's privacy with steps that include obtaining their consent. They also say they don't use the full power of the technology, and refrain from reading email and analyzing sensitive online activities Two large ISPs in Brazil—Oi, a unit of Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA, and Telefonica SA—currently have deals with Phorm 

Mr. Gassewitz [top picture] says six ISPs have tested Kindsight's security service on subscriber groups as big as 200,000. Mr. Gassewitz says, "There was no profiling occurring, no advertising occurring, no data collection occurring."

Oi's Mr. Pedro Ripper, Oi's strategy and technology believes that the technology's time has come. "The Internet is becoming more and more a platform to deliver very targeted messages," he says. As for deep packet inspection, "Everyone is going to get there. It's just a matter of timing"

Japan - ISPs May Use DPI for Behavioral Advertising

 

Japan's asahi.com reports (english - here) that a working group from the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, published a report concluding that DPI may be used by ISPs for behavioral advertising.

See coverage by Asiajin, here.

Behavioral advertising, offered in the past by US based Nebuad and Adzilla, and UK based Phorm, was not accepted well in their home countries, mainly because it was deployed without disclosing it to subscribers.

The business case was to share advertising revenues between the ISP and the these companies. The ISP provides the facilities and subscribers base and Nebuad/Phorm the networking equipment that track the subscriber's activity (usually "anonymously" - without keeping record of the subscribers activity) and relations with advertisers.

However, the business case could be only justified with large volumes - so if the subscribers are required to opt-in (register) for the service - there just not going to be enough traffic, clicks and therefore revenues. Opt-out could be a better way, possibly leaving enough subscribers exposed to the process.

According to Asiajin, the Japanese report - "concludes that such technology cannot be used without constituting a breach of private communications if it does not first receive approval from the user (p. 58). However, elsewhere in the report it is stated that an opt-out mechanism must be in place (p. 59), suggesting that the system need not be opt-in." (the report is here, in Japanese).

Related posts:

• DPI Deployments - Part2: Why Hiding?  - here
• DPI Deployments - Part4: UK - Everybody is Doing it ! - here

DPI Deployments - Part4: UK - Everybody is Doing it !

     

On June 2008, the UK regulator Ofcom published its Voluntary Code of Practice: Broadband Speeds "a voluntary and self-regulatory measure" (here). The code suggests that ISPs will disclose to their subscribers (and the public) the real service levels they provide.

In particular interest to our discussion is section 39: "Where ISPs apply traffic management and shaping policies, they should publish on their website, in a clear and easily accessible form, information on the restrictions applied. This should include the types of applications, services and protocols that are affected and specific information on peak traffic periods"

Ofcom maintains a list of ISPs that endorsed the code (here). The list has over 50 names, including all leading UK ISPs.

These ISPs should according to section 33 - "use their best endeavours to set out clearly, and in a prominent place on their websites (e.g. within help or FAQs sections), information relating to their respective policies on fair usage; traffic management and traffic shaping to cover, at a minimum, the matters set out below."


In my earlier post - "Net-Neutrality Crosses the Pond" (here) I brought the relevant policies of the UK leading ISPs - Plusnet, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Sky - having in total over 15M subscribers. Plusnet even issued a press release "PlusNet welcome Ofcom's Broadband Speed Code of Practice" (here) saying that "Although the code of practice is certainly a step in the right direction, we would question whether these voluntary guidelines go far enough"

As we can see, the majority of the internet traffic in the UK is subject to traffic control. Some of the ISPs' stated policies could not be achieved without DPI (needed, for example, to detect "downloads") - and there even some public announcements on that:

• Plusnet (BT retail service) is using Ellacoya (now Arbor Networks) - see PlusNet Picks Ellacoya (here). This was one the first DPI deployments by a larger ISP, world-wide.
   
• Carphone (TalkTalk) is using Sandvine - "Carphone Warehouse Selects Sandvine to Enhance Subscriber Internet Experience" (here) - one of the earlier adapters of Sandvine's 10Gbps DPI product. Carphone consumer retail service is TalkTalk (listed above).

While using DPI for traffic management, fair-use or congestion management seems to be well accepted in the UK, the imitative of several ISPs to use DPI for targeted advertizing (using a solution from the UK based Phorm) failed with severe consequences:

UK ISP BT Could Face CPS Prosecution over Secret Phorm Trials  - "The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed that it is still assessing the prospect of opening a criminal case against BT following the operator’s secret trials of Phorm in 2006/2007. Phorm controversially worked with UK broadband ISPs ( BT , TalkTalk and Virgin Media ) to develop a system that would monitor what websites you viewed for use in targeted advertising campaigns, though many likened its service to Spyware." (here)

Showing us the good and bad in DPI - and maybe it is better to disclose your service details rather being "secret".