 JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL | Not the 1st company to do this. So why are these congress critters coming after them? We need to follow the political donation trail on this one.
--
»www.seabee.navy.mil | |
|
 | 
bobjohnson
join:2007-02-03
Titusville, FL
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·Vonage
| Re: Not the 1st company to do this. said by JSRoman  :So why are these congress critters coming after them? We need to follow the political donation trail on this one. I've seen people that have talked about it but, who actually does this besides Charter? | |
|
| | 
Karl
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: Not the 1st company to do this. Embarq, CenturyTel, Knology, WOW, and Broadstripe that I can tell.
Others exist I'm sure. | |
|
| | | BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: Not the 1st company to do this. said by Karl :Embarq, CenturyTel, Knology, WOW, and Broadstripe that I can tell. And all combined don't equal the number of subscribers Charter has | |
|
| | | |
Karl
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: Not the 1st company to do this. They all also buried announcement of their use of NebuAD in fine print and avoided getting slammed in the press...which is just as likely an explanation for why they didn't get singled out. | |
|
| BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by JSRoman :So why are these congress critters coming after them? We need to follow the political donation trail on this one. Maybe these congressment have their internet through charter and they realize this idea sucks. | |
|
| 
pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by JSRoman :So why are these congress critters coming after them? We need to follow the political donation trail on this one. I am pretty certain these hearings will be canceled once the protection money from Charter arrives.
--
This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
|
| | GrantGevens
join:2000-03-16
Knoxville, TN | Re: Not the 1st company to do this. In all seriousness that is likely very accurate. | |
|
| |
| Jinto
join:2005-08-27
Hartselle, AL
·Charter Pipeline
| Well it might be because Charter is one of the Largest ISP to use it and announce it
Myself as a Charter Comm customers DONT like my browsing info tossed out cause i want it private if i wanted the world to see me visit espn or gmail a lot in one day i would sign up for it | |
|
| 
funchords
Robb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Hillsboro, OR | Edward Markey is one of the most brilliant Congressmen we have. We might want to elect him Congressman over the virtual district! This isn't about $$$$. He is the real deal. | |
|
|
| openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL | Re: Privacy please... Have you ever read any of the "privacy" statements that you receive from your bank, credit card companies, insurance companies, various other service providers, etc.? This is not just an ISP issue. | |
|
| | 
burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
On the lead | Re: Privacy please... I didnt say that it was... | |
|
vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium
join:2005-03-01
Worcester, MA | Read the letter Here's the letter the reps sent to Charter | |
|
| haplo2112
join:2003-05-12
Charlton, MA
| Re: Read the letter I like it, but I leaves wiggle room, that I don't like.
All I want (personally anyway) is for the whole thing to be truly opt-in. in other words I have to click a button that says "allow this", which I personally will never do. In the end the opt-in can't and should not be tied to the use of any other services, and if I don't do it, they don't track a damned thing. | |
|
haplo2112
join:2003-05-12
Charlton, MA
edit:
May 19th, @12:33PM
| Being from MA... I can say that Edward Markey actually has a reputation of listening too, and giving a crap about what the people he represents have to say. So I imagine that someone mentioned this whole sticking pile of dung that Charter has brought up to him. He then did the right thing and said, "heh, wait just a minute here" | |
|
clickie
join:2005-05-22
Monroe, MI
| Ugh! Whether or not your credit card company does this isn't the issue, the issue is that you have no way to opt out of it (like you do with your credit card company) because the opt-out system is poorly constructed and intended to eliminate other privacy methods.
Opting-out on Charter's web site only stops the targeted ads, it doesn't stop the data collection. And what's bad about that is that these people will be peeking into packets that may be covered by other privacy statutes, like HPPA. Simply saying "we ignore packets that might contain sensitive medical information" does not give immunity to Charter or Nebuad because they've already looked at it. And as more and more insurance and health care providers put medical information and claims forms online, this is a serious problem for Nebuad.
The other issue is that while Nebuad seems to be taking the privacy high-road in making one-way hashes of your MAC address and seemingly assuring your privacy, I doubt that will last for long. Charter does not provide any personally identifying information, but if you buy something from one of the people who use Nebuad's system, then *they know who you are*. And you can bet your sweet bippy that information along with your one-way hash will be shared, sold and traded to the highest bidder. Let's face it, the whole purpose of Nebuad is to get you to buy something. And when you do, they know who you are and will use that information for further targeting.
It's nice Charter wants to keep the finances rolling in, but I don't think this concept was thought through very carefully by its management and the impact it can have on customer privacy. Sure, Charter isn't coughing up personally identifiable information, but that doesn't mean that over time it isn't going to be collected over time by Nebuad, its successors, affiliates, partners and wanna-bes. | |
|
greenman
join:2002-06-18
Athens, GA
| It's more than just privacy... Currently, when I go to:
notarealsubsite.google.com
using Charter services, I get this instead:
»www11.charter.net/search?qo=nota···bHBjCBFr
Google owns google.com and all subdomains thereof. Yet Charter has usurped the invalid (404) subdomain and served ads on it for it's own purposes. That's theft and trespassing. It's like Charter putting a billboard on Google's front lawn without asking.
Likewise, they haven't paid me for the searchpage/ads that appear on my sites' subdomains for Charter's customers. Regardless of whether it's 404 they have not paid for the privilege. They are trespassing on my domain, diverting it for their own use and making money from it.
This isn't just a privacy issue. Charter is cybersquatting on land it does not own. I will not have it. Get off my property, Charter. Until we've come to an agreement - which is highly unlikely - you have no rights to settle here.
And now NebuAd is doing deep packet inspections. Are they going to stop with my browser history, or will they be deep-packet inspecting my voip and email as well? If it starts here, where will it end?
Charter should be held to Common Carrier standards. Show what exists on my domains as they are - not with Charter ads - regardless of whether the subsite is 404. My browser history is mine alone. Likewise with email and voip. The 'opt-out' program is reverse from what it should be: Customers who actually want to 'participate' should have to go somewhere to sign up - not the reverse. I shouldn't have to keep a cookie on my system to protect myself from getting ads. It likely won't protect my browser history data from being culled even if I did 'opt out.' All it will 'protect' me from is seeing NebuAd placed ads.
For a Common Carrier - Charter - to put the onus of privacy on me - the client - is a bit like the US Post Office expecting a trusted family member to sit shot-gun on the stage coach for all my correspondence that it delivers. I thought I was paying Charter to deliver a service with complete privacy and without prejudice.
Charter gravely needs to reconsider this path of action. | |
|
| hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH | Re: It's more than just privacy... What Charter did to that site is URL Redirection. lots of ISPs are doing that now. Its not uncommon. But if you don't like it change your DNS. Generally its their DNS that does that. Other wise don't use charter. | |
|
| | greenman
join:2002-06-18
Athens, GA
| Re: It's more than just privacy... Make no mistake - this is not about _my_ personal settings - it's about everyone else who uses Charter's DNS's. Just changing _my_ DNS settings isn't enough. Most Charter clients are using Charter DNS's. I'm not getting paid for the privilege of the redirection they are doing of _my_ domains on _other_ people's computers. They are making profit from that redirection without my consent.
As I said - it's like someone putting a shop on my front lawn without my permission. I gave them no such permission. That's trespassing and theft. That's illegal.
Just blissfully setting my DNS elsewhere and ignoring the problem is only going to make me oblivious if they encroach further on my rights. This business practice is skating on class action retaliation. I don't want people camping on my property and selling tickets to come there without my permission and without my knowing it.
Can I be any clearer? | |
|
tennessee469
join:2002-11-25
Kingsport, TN
| i like charter with these speeds...who cares what they do    | |
|
JesTX
@myvzw.com
| This is good Charter is breaking all sorts of laws with this program. It's wiretapping at its very definition, is no more anonymous than the data AOL released in 2006 (which was subsequently used to track some individuals to their front door), and does not meet the privacy criteria (mandatory opt-in) to be lawful under the Cable Privacy Act of 1984.
And for those of you wondering why they call it a "service enhancement," under the law they are only allowed to switch to an opt-out system (as opposed to an op-in) if the service is necessary for business. Of course this agreement with NebuAD is nowhere near necessary, but by calling it an "enhancement" they can do an end run around the law and use the much-easier-to-scam opt-in. Moreover, the opt-out Charter has provided doesn't even remove you from the data collection process, which clearly indicates that Charter only put that in place to hide the fact that they aren't providing the federally-mandated consumer protections. It's good that some Congressmen are getting involved. Under the law Charter's statutory obligations are $100 per customer per day for privacy violations under section 551 of the Cable Privacy Act of 1984, plus another $100 per customer per day on federal wiretapping laws. It stacks up fast.
If Charter gets away with selling information to NebuAD, then NebuAD can sell it over and over again to anyone they want. All you'll need to run is a single search which can positively identify you, such as your own name, or hit any site whatsoever on which your name is displayed, and all of that data can get traced to you. | |
|
| greenman
join:2002-06-18
Athens, GA
edit:
May 20th, @04:25PM
| Re: This is good And NebuAD will sell it to whomever has the cash. I suspect their biggest clients will be governments - and not just US State and Federal. So we have arms of government who say it's illegal, and other arms of government who probably pay to use the illegal data. It might be interesting to do a right-to-know search on which federal and state branches have bought third-party browser history data and from whom. | |
|
|
|
|
Congressmen Want To Chat With Charter Over Privacy
·