What Software Do Cable Installers Place on Your PC?

{e}N0S asks: "The cable guy came over to install a cable modem at my Dad's house. As I watched him do his stuff I noticed he was installing something called Broadjump Client Foundation. I know you don't need software for a cable modem to work so I asked if it was necessary. He said he had to do his list of things, and we had to sign that he did his list of things, otherwise he couldn't leave it with us to use. Since I can always remove the software, I agreed, but I noticed while he was flipping through the install, he was clicking 'agree' on every EULA that came up. Doing a search on Google for 'Broadjump Client Foundation' comes up with some pretty scary stuff as far as what it does, like: 'Builds a database of subscriber demographics and buying behaviors to help evolve and refine marketing efforts.' Now, how does this affect us? Neither myself or anyone in my family agreed to the software; the cable guy did. And is there anyway to get cable companies to stop doing this as I can imagine since the cable company is a monopoly in this town, that the percentage of people who still have this software on their computers is pretty high."

Comments

Have a honeypot

[samjam]

Have a bogus PC or bogus windows installation for him to install junk on, which you can leave "unused" till you need to call support when you can boot into that partition if needed.

Self Install Kits

[Rayonic]

This is why I always opt for the self-install option with any ISP. I don't even like my wife messing with my computer, nevermind some complete stranger.

(Side note: Yes, she does have her own computer. So there. :P)

Don't worry about it

[tkrotchko]

Do you want theoretical advice or practical?

Theoretical:
If you feel you can't live with the restrictions or you and your machine, then drop the service and use something else.

Practical
Just wipe the stuff off the machine after the guy leaves.

You can only analyze this stuff so far.

Re:Don't worry about it

[windex]

On top of that, any cable company will let you demand to do a self install, and just drop off the cable modem or ship it UPS.

The worst case scenerio is that you set it up before he gets there and go "I used to have it in my old apartment/house/whatever, it's already setup. Just plug it in and I'll sign your service order". No human cable technician is going to turn down getting out of doing work.

Makes me wonder how old the submitter was to where he couldn't just say "No, thanks, I'll install it myself".

Small Claims Court?

[TheBillGates]

I wonder if you could take them to small claims court to compensate you for the time you spent uninstalling the program?

Sure, it wouldn't amount to much money, but taking them to court would get their attention that people don't want that spyware stuff on their machines.

The nerve they have to install that spyware and not have the decency to even let their customer know. This is a severe abuse of your privacy.

Re:he installed

[AlgUSF]

Even better yet, I have DSL. It came as an self-install kit.

1) Plugged DSL modem into the telephone line

2) Plugged DSL modem into network hub

3) Connected filters to telephones

4) Threw install CD in the trash

Get the local news involved

[Digital Mage]

I say inform your local newspaper or television news station. As you say, since the cable company is almost a monopoly in the area, I'll bet a number of people would love to know about how their local ISP is "spying" on them without them knowing. Most local news outlets are always looking for juicy stories about companies screwing over consumers.

Re:interesting

[Omnifarious]

If they can't stay in business honestly, they don't deserve to be in business.

If they wish to collect demographic data on your purchases in return for a decrease in your bill, that's fine. But they should have a contract specificying how much that decrease will be, and exactly what the software will do. You can have it in your service contract all nice and above board, or choose NOT to have it and pay higher costs.

Of course, since they're a monopoly, that will just lead to a $50/mo (or more) difference. But that's easier to point a finger at and complain bitterly about to your local regulator.

Re:he installed

[stratjakt]

The way the guy explained it to me, there are dozens of people who dont want him touching their computer.

Then they cant figure it out (yeah, I know it's just turning on DHCP), and have to call him back to set it up.

If the original work order isn't signed - then there's no proof he ever showed up at all, and the cost of rolling the truck the second time comes outta his pay. If it is, then the customer pays for the second call like he should.

He really didn't care one way or the other, so long as the work order was signed.

No need to dump all the anti-corporate conspiracy theory bullshit on the poor joe who gets payed 10 bucks an hour to hookup peoples homes.

Re:That's great for Slashdot geeks...

[mvonballmo]

You shouldn't be embarrased for that post, it actually is insightful compared to other posts here. Most of the previous posts were of this vein:

I'm an amazingly cool and frood computer dood, so I told the cable company to fuck off and they had to, so there! L00zerz!

Yeah, cool.

The point the previous post made was that there are a lot of people getting this quasi-manipulative software installed on their machines - pretty much without their knowledge. You explain this with:

"99% of the people out there DON'T CARE that it's on there"

I disagree. I think if they knew what it was, they would care. If you told them -- hey, can I install software that will watch your browsing habits in order to better target junk mail to your email address? -- then they would have the chance to say 'fuck off' too.

But the deck is massively stacked because:

1) They don't even know it's going on there
2) They trust their installer because ostensibly he/she should know more about computers than they
3) Even if they installed it themselves, they would click yes because they just want broadband and aren't aware (as many here are) to what lengths corporations will go to take advantage of them for profit
4) EULA language is relatively advanced lawyerese -- again, it's beyond the comprehension of most, so they just assume they aren't getting screwed.

The answer is not scorn for their stupidity, nor "let the company do what it wants, people don't care"...the answer is to use your massive hax0r skills to educate these beknighted souls.

Who cares about YOUR experience...?

[glesga_kiss]

I think most folk are missing the point here. No disrespect to those who posted their ways around the problem. Kudos to you for knowing how to set up IP.

The point is that most internet users don't even know what an IP is. They don't care about linux, and they probably aren't even aware that there could be software doing "bad things" on their PC. These users are having spyware forced upon them in two ways:

• The tech did the EULA for them without consulting them
• The contract demands the software to be installed

This is a serious problem. Let's actually discuss ways to resolve it for everyone, rather than trying to make ourselves look clever.

Automatic escalation

[Old Man Kensey]

aborchers wrote:

It would not cost them a $50 support call to answer direct technical questions from experienced users if they would route questions properly based on their content. For example, if a user calls up, explains that he has changed network cards and asks to have the MAC entry changed in their database, it is not effective customer service to work through a thirty minute script only to end with an escalation to second line support when a direct bump to second line could have finished the call in one minute! (Example from my experience, obviously)

I once got in the middle of a thread on the MindSpring customer-service newsgroups and posted a suggestion that they institute an "experienced customer" line. The idea being you get certified through them that yes, you really know what you're doing (maybe by taking the same tests of proficiency that their employees take?) and after that you're given access to a support line staffed by people who don't insist on going through the "is it turned on?" parts of the script. Who talk to you as though you have a clue, in other words. Hell, they could not only make money on it by charging a token fee (maybe $5 per month), they could use it as a pool to recruit new tech folks.

Basically, phone centers need to program their script bots with something akin to keyword matching to determine when the caller is not going to be served by a cookbook of click heres and tab theres. In my experience, it is luck of the draw whether you get a first line rep who knows their stuff or is just following the script, and there are a lot of gradations between first and second line that could be subdivided more efficiently. Can it really be that cost ineffective to provide decent, non-irritating support to all levels of users, as opposed to just the clueless ones?

It's all about metrics. If you don't force the techs to follow the same script, you can't effectively compare their performance and weed out the ones that aren't making good numbers. (The fact that you can't do that short of actually listening in on a tech's calls from time to time, we'll ignore for now.) ISO 9000 can be a good thing in its place; likewise Six-Sigma. This kind of cookie-cutter tech support is the worst possible application of both, but management just sees a documented, reproducible process and finds it Good.

Re:Automatic escalation

[scoove]

I find that dealing with tech support is uniformly frustrating for the advanced user because the providers are so focused on the clueless.

Absolutely concur. I'm one of those half-suit/half-geek oddballs and I spend a good amount of time dealing with embedded system projects (miniturization of router systems we put in ugly places like water towers). I've gotten used to simply waiting for folks to go thru their routine - in fact, I usually either get some good reading material out, sort my files, etc. while dealing with the basic questions.

But putting the service provider hat on, I'm not sure there is a good alternative (but I'm looking for one!!!). For instance, Old Man Kensey writes:

institute an "experienced customer" line

but acknowledges the issue with performance measurement. I'll stick to an even more basic concern: cost.

I hate to say it, but most of the 80% category (clueless users) are pretty easy to help. Like my mother-in-law. They'll write down step-by-step instructions and never deviate. They correctly assume that it probably was something they did that made things wrong, and have a much better attitude to deal with.

The 2% elite geeks never even call unless *we* have something wrong, so they're a breeze too (and have managed to evolve in a hostile world and are pretty savvy at handling their service provider).

It's the 18% "sorta knowledgable" users that cost us bucks on support. You know the type, false high self-esteem, marginal competency. Can use Frontpage so they're a self-declared web guru. Knows how to ping, and thinks he's the inventor of IP. Constantly tinkers with his PC and screws it up, but is certain it was the service provider's doing (even though everything worked until that service pack was applied). They start the support call by yelling at people, send nasty emails demanding to receive a personal apology from the CEO and credit for a year's worth of service, etc.

They'll monopolize the phone. Ask you a thousand questions unrelated to their most recent screwup. They'll suck you dry on support. When you finally figure out how they screwed it up (the one thing they are naturally good at), they assume the problem was secondary and the service provider is just covering up the problem. Then they'll break it again the next day.

It would not cost them a $50 support call to answer direct technical questions from experienced users if they would route questions properly based on their content

But how do I weed out the posers - They're 90% of the self-proclaimed experts, and would be nearly all of my calls.

(Incidentally, we keep a record of the 2% on our network and watch for their communications. They also get bandwidth boosts, doubling their rate shaping limits, as a little thank you for being competent. They thank us back by letting us know when they see something we should know about)

Perhaps the only solution is to charge for support like the phone company did - e.g. "if it's not our network, it's your bill."

*scoove*