Amazon blocks Phorm scanning

Phorm has taken another hit today, as internet giant Amazon asked for all its domains to not be included in the web scanning behavioural advertising system.

Phorm has been the subject of controversy after BT last year trialled its deep packet inspection system, which is known as Webwise in the UK.

Amazon's request to opt out of the service comes after the Open Rights Group included the online retailer in an open letter to leading web firms, asking them to refuse to use the service.

Amazon said in a statement: "We have contacted Webwise requesting that we opt-out for all of our domains."

In response, Phorm told IT PRO: "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."

Yesterday, the European Union put the wheels in motion for potential legal action against the UK over Phorm. Amazon has seen its share of controversy too, angering people over the weekend when a bug appeared to rate any gay or lesbian literature as adult and removed them from its ranking system.