Top home computing stories of 2009

May
Phorm leapt back into the limelight in May as the European Commission launched legal action against the Government for failing to ensure the privacy of internet users. The online retail giant Amazon also stepped in, announcing it would not allow its sites to be monitored by Phorm's Webwise system.

Webwise's owner fought back with a website in which Phorm accused critics of orchestrating a “smear campaign”. The rather strange website, which mocked the company’s critics as “privacy pirates”, disappeared a few months later.

June
This summer saw a 50p tax on landline telephones proposed to pay for next-generation broadband. Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report said the levy was the “fairest” way to ensure that everyone in the UK could benefit from fibre-optic high-speed broadband services.

July
In July we reported that Microsoft was planning to slash the cost of Windows 7 in the UK. At the time, the company said it would not be selling upgrade licences in the UK, so full copies of Windows 7 Home Premium would cost just £80 until the end of 2009.

The controversial advertising technology Phorm made the news again, as both BT and Talktalk announced they had dropped plans to use the technology. Of the UK’s major ISPs this left only Virgin Media in talks with the company.

August
In August we reported an Ofcom study claiming that only one person in nine was getting the speed advertised for their broadband internet connection. This did not come as a huge surprise as Computeractive had been campaigning for clearer broadband advertising since 2007.

Microsoft announced that upgrade editions of Windows would be available to UK customers, but raised the cost of the full versions of Windows 7 Home Premium to £150.