American "Phorm lookalike" bites the dust

A document quietly filed with a Californian court signals the demise of the company that, a year ago, was covertly tracking the web browsing habits of 10 per cent of the US population.

The company used its deep packet inspection technology inside various ISPs (more than 30 of them at one time) and its response to the deluge of complaints it received when it became generally known that the software was eavesdropping in secret on Internet subscribers was to say that its ISP "partners" always and specifically notified their customers before setting the spyware in action.

But little good it did in the end. The company foundered on the reefs of public disquiet and after the US Congress voiced serious concerns about NebuAd's methods. ISP's, worried about churn and possible class action lawsuits withdrew from "partnerships" with NebuAD, leaving it high and dry.

Lawyers acting for what's left of the company say it is to assign its remaining assets to creditors and is to "cease to exist as a going concern."

NebuAd collapsed because the company's claims that ISPs "always and invariably" explicitly notified customers that the web browsing proclivities were about to be monitored turned out to be untrue.

And, although the company did provide a cookie-based opt-out facility and claimed that all data was anonymised, the US Congress, via the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, questioned the legality of NebuAd's secret deep packet inspection technology and the probity of the company's top management.