Webwise "Customer Choice Process"

[Ian Batten]

On 13 Apr 2008, at 14:33, Roland Perry wrote:
> In article <48019409.2040506@zen.co.uk>, Peter Fairbrother <zenadsl6186@zen.co.uk 
> > writes
>>
>>> "The trial invitation will be presented through a special web page  
>>> that  will appear the first time those customers start a web- 
>>> browsing session  after BT Webwise becomes available. At this  
>>> point, those customers  invited can choose to click YES, NO or  
>>> Find More to get more information."
>>
>> One technical question - how are BT going to make the special web  
>> page "appear the first time those customers start a web-browsing  
>> session"?
>>
>> Enquiring (and criminal) minds would like to know ..
>
> Mindful that this is only the trial we are talking about... perhaps  
> there is some flag set within the Phorm platform which recognises  
> the very first browsing session after activation. A bit like any  
> commercial wifi hotspot will ask the user to pay (using a special  
> screen) the first (and only the first) time they start as session.

In that scenario, though, as with for-money hotel wired access,  
there's an assumption that the client isn't sat behind a NAT gateway.   
You can in fact buy boxes that break that assumption: Netgear sell/ 
sold a box which is a portable AP, powered by USB, so that you can  
share one hotel-room connection amongst multiple users.  Look up the  
WGR101.  The hotel/hotspot systems hand out an IP number via DHCP  
relying on the uniqueness of your MAC address, and then authorise you  
based on payment against that MAC.  None of that will work in the  
instant case, because surely they'll need to individually obtain opt- 
in from each user --- not merely one user of each computer, but each  
user.  And no-one has answered the question (and the IOC is ignoring  
my email) of what to do about children, and how can they be expected  
to opt-in to a trial in which their personal information is collected  
without parental consent.

ian