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Brazilian Launch for Phorm
Embattled behavioural ad targeting company Phorm has launched its Open Internet Exchange (OIX) platform and its Web Discover tool in Brazil, where it claims to have already generated R$10m (US $5.6m) of pre-booked ad revenue.
 Phorm drew criticism in 2008, when UK telecoms provider BT admitted using its software to serve personalised ads to business customers without their permission. After an investigation, the UK Government concluded that the system did not break EU data protection laws so long as users were given an easy option to opt out.
After this, the European Commission stepped in with legal action against the UK Government, over its failure to force Phorm to comply with EU data protection and privacy rules.
Following these concerns about customer privacy, last summer Nationwide, Amazon, Wikipedia and BT all dropped out of trials to use Phorm's technology.
At this time, the firm posted an operating loss of $49.8m for the year ended 31 December 2008, and a further $19.7m for the first six months of 2009.
This led to the company reducing the scale of its US operations and core operations in the UK though headcount reductions, cuts in salaries, professional fees and other general admin costs. Fighting back, Phorm re-branded its Webwise Discover product last year to offer users targeted content as well as targeted advertising.
Now comes news that the product is being launched in Brazil under the local brand name 'Navegador', which the company says will bring relevant content to consumers based on their web browsing interests.
CEO Kent Ertugrul explained that the roll-out in Brazil 'reflects the many lessons learnt from experiences in other markets'.
'We're very pleased to be moving into a new phase where our system is being operated on a commercial basis and scale,' he stated. 'Today's announcement is also indicative of the value that our service can deliver to our partners around the world.'
Ertugrul added that the firm has now 'successfully completed' two trials in Korea, and that it is now active in almost 'every other' major Internet market worldwide.
The US incorporated company, has offices in New York, Seoul, Moscow, Sao Paulo and London.
Web site: www.phorm.com .
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