Charter Spies

Can Charter Broadband Customers Really Opt-Out of Spying? Maybe Not

NebuAd's appliance categorizes users and their interests, and then uses the data to customize ads on the internet. Charter says the device will not actively inject NebuAd's advertising into web sessions, but rather NebuAd will provide the profile information to third-party advertisers already paying to place their ads on major websites.

So they place a box in the ISP's server area and it monitors your surfing habits, tracking every thing you do. Why ? Advertising.

The oddity of the world. China does it to throw you in jail. America does it to spam you. Same technology.


At issue, though, is NebuAd's system for allowing customers to opt-out of the data collection. A review of the NebuAd's and Charter's statement on the opt-out system, and of NebuAd's patent on its technology, raises serious questions about whether Charter customers can really opt-out of the spying at all


You can't.

World of Warcraft did this already , following in the footsteps of many companies before it. They popped up a window saying they were collecting non personal system info and press this button if you didn't want to be monitored. Three months later that button was gone, the window never apeared, and they did as they liked to your computer and if you didn't like it don't play their game , dim witt !

I don't.


Charter's own opt-out page is careful not to claim that opted-out users won't be monitored, saying only that if a user "would like to opt-out of this process" an opt-out cookie means they "will no longer receive ads that are tailored to your web preferences, usage patterns and commercial interests."


But they'll still monitor you.


There are also lingering questions about whether NebuAds systems are as non-invasive as described. A patent application filed by the company in March 2007 describes a monitoring system that actually manipulates data packets and replaces advertisements on third-party websites with their own ads.


Ha ha ha !

Just when we were all taught you have to put up with ads in order to receive these free websites and it's an evil thing to use a browser that blocks them , now the companies themselves are going to do precisely that.


"This is a classic instance where the harm -- a user getting quietly compromised -- is not felt by the agent receiving the benefit, meaning the ISP profiting off of injected advertisements," security researcher Dan Kaminsky said via e-mail. "The last three attempts at injection -- PaxFire, BareFruit, and Network Solutions -- have been shown to push trivial vulnerabilities into the entire web."


And if you mess up , like the last three attempts already did , you infect every single one of your customers with some virus or trojen. And then tell them too bad, not our problem.

This kind of thing typically runs in packs. One company does it , takes the heat, then quietly , very quietly , everyone starts doing it. And you lose the ability to switch providers because they're all doing it.

Remember television ? 22 minutes of show , 38 minutes of comercials ? And the commercials are loud and annoying, so you turn the volume down , and the show is quiet, so you turn the volume up , and then a commercial comes on and BLASTS your ears so you turn the volume down ...

It's coming. It's coming.