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Charter Is Latest ISP To Plan Wiretapping Via DPI

Posted by kdawson on from the bad-phorm dept.

Charter Communications has begun sending letters to its customers informing them that, in the name of an "enhanced user experience," it will begin spying on their traffic and inserting targeted ads. This sounds almost indistinguishable from what Phorm proposed doing in the UK. Lauren Weinstein issues a call to arms.

3 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. COX dns poisoning.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The "enhanced user experience" is nothing more than a smoke screen to spy on you, and get more ad revenue for their own personal gain. It's utter bullshit. Recently COX communications implimented nation wide DNS poisoning similiar to what versign does on domains it can't resolve.

    http://support.cox.com/sdccommon/asp/contentredirect.asp?sprt_cid=e047dc81-18c4-485f-bcf3-1263d0b7b904

    How to opt out of the "enhanced user experience"

    How does injecting ad's into my browser "enhance" my experience? Give me more fucking bandwith you money grubbing cheap fucks, and that MIGHT enhance my experience.. I hate them.

  2. Anyone on charter, please visit our tripwire... by nweaver · · Score: 5, Informative

    If anyone is using charter (or just suspicious of things), please visit our tripwire server:

    http://vancouver.cs.washington.edu/, to (hopefully) detect in-flight page changes.

    --
    Test your net with Netalyzr
  3. My Conversation with Charter by tedivm · · Score: 5, Informative

    A representative will be with you shortly. You have been connected to TTM Mike .

    TTM Mike : Hi this is Mike from Charter. How may I help you today?

    Robert Hafner: I read an article online, and the followed it to the Charter webpage, which states that Charter is going to be monitoring my surfing habits and placing ads into pages I'm viewing. I am wondering how soon this will happen to me personally.
    Robert Hafner: http://connect.charter.com/landing/op1.html

    TTM Mike : I do apologize but let me transfer you over toour internet support line.
    TTM Mike has left the session.

    Please wait while we find an agent from the CHAT - DUMA - HSD Support department to assist you.

    You have been connected to TTD Grah .

    TTD Grah : Hi, this is Grah. Thank you for contacting Charter's High Speed Internet support. How may I be of assistance to you today?

    Robert Hafner: I read an article online, and the followed it to the Charter webpage, which states that Charter is going to be monitoring my surfing habits and placing ads into pages I'm viewing. I am wondering how soon this will happen to me personally.

    TTD Grah : One moment please.

    Robert Hafner: http://connect.charter.com/landing/op1.html Contains the information
    Robert Hafner: that I am basing this question off of.
    Robert Hafner: As well as http://consumerist.com/5008801/charter-to-begin-tracking-users-searches-and-inserting-targeted-ads

    TTD Grah : Yes, that is our new update.
    TTD Grah : One moment please as I download the document.
    TTD Grah : Charter has formed a partnership with an industry-leader in online advertising, NebuAd (www.nebuad.com). NebuAd, through their advertising network, will display targeted advertisements to Charter High-Speed® Internet customers while they are surfing the Web. NebuAd does not collect and use personally identifiable information to deliver advertising. Customers will not see more ads - just ads that are more relevant to their interests that have been expressed through their web-surfing activity.
    TTD Grah : The feature will be activated automatically for Charter HSI customers beginning in June 2008 in the following four Charter markets:
    Newtown, Connecticut
    Fort Worth, Texas
    San Luis Obispo, California
    Oxford, Massachusetts

    Robert Hafner: So the ads are placed directly into websites I would normally view?
    Robert Hafner: How do I opt-out for an entire household, with multiple computers and browsers?
    Robert Hafner: Currently the only way to opt-out is by placing a cookie under each browser of each account of each computer, which is absolutely insane.

    TTD Grah : The technology can actually often distinguish between different users on a shared computer and, therefore, can serve different ads to different users. Only a portion of the ads you see will be a function of the enhanced service - you will still see some ads that are served based on other criteria.

    Robert Hafner: The question was were are those ads being placed- are they replacing other ads on websites, for instance?
    Robert Hafner: And if so, how is the owner of the actual website going to be compensated?

    TTD Grah : This site may appear depending on what are you trying to view online.
    TTD Grah : This site will give you options on what to have according to what you need.

    Robert Hafner: What site are you referring to?

    TTD Grah : Say for example, you are surfing because you wish to purchase shoes online, this site will pop up and give you options to chose from.
    TTD Grah : That is how it works.
    TTD Grah : That is how it works.
    TTD Grah : The site will not pop up everytime you go online.

    Robert Hafner: So this only affects my traffic to