I'd never heard of Phorm until it got embroiled in the broader debate about control of personal data derived from web usage. I had even listened to a Tim Berners Lee interview on this topic where, reportedly, he was obliquely criticizing Phorm but without naming them.

Having read a few articles - here from the BBC - I couldn't work out whether it would be considered as good or bad for them to be rolled into this furore. Either way, I'll bet their name references have gone off the scale in the past few weeks.

Which - on a quiet afternoon - got me thinking, maybe there is a niche PR business opportunity for brands which might actively court notoriety as part of the business plan (not suggesting Phorm set out with this mind of course, but I'd never heard of them before). 

Presumably, the strategy would be to either kick off or escalate involvement in public issues, a sort of anti-crisis management.

So who would be on my target client list for Bad Boy PR Ltd... Heather Mills, Grand Theft Auto, P Diddy... who else?

Tags: Heather Mills, Tim Berners Lee, Phorm, naughty brands