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Charter's Trials of NebuAd Halted
RalphTheWonderLlama writes "The trials of NebuAd by Charter Communications were halted after it gained the attention of Congressmen Ed Markey and Joe Barton. The online behavioral targeting system has been called "a 'man-in-the-middle attack' and various other unflattering names" but would certainly be an easy way for an ISP to cash in on client profiling."
PaisteUser points out MSNBC's coverage as well, according to which the ad-insertion scheme was dropped because of "concerns raised by customers."
No ISP that I know of has a Monopoly. You always have the option of Dialup (9 of 10 times, if you don't have a phone line (wired), it's your fault or choice.... Either you didn't order or want one, or you chose to live where you do, and if there is no phone service there, that's your CHOICE). In cases such as the one cited above, AT&T offers me internet via my cell phone for 40.00 a month now. Unlimited. Fast, no, but it works, and gets me internet anywhere I have a cell signal. My wifes phone does the same, for the same 40.00, but is high speed (she has a Black Jack II, I have a HTC Wizard).
No cell service, go satellite. That's pretty much available everywhere.
DSL is an option, albeit not everywhere.
WiFi (long haul) is becoming an option in some areas as well.
There are options NOT listed above, but those cover the majority of instances. Between long range wifi, dialup and satellite, cable companies don't have a monopoly on providing internet service almost anywhere.
--Toll_Free
(And yes, I do know what I speak of. I am in a Comcast area, use DSL by choice, and my vacation home is serviced by Microwave. I had to figure it out for myself (I am serviced by a Hotel WiFi vendor, but pay 50.00 a month for three quarter megabit service) in order to get it, get the service, etc., but it wasn't too hard. Go to the hotels in the area and find out what services them for high speed.
Incidentally, the only other options we have are Satellite (Wild Blue and DirecPC) and DSL. I'm too far from the C/O for DSL, so this was my only low-latency option.
Get's a little old, however, hearing people throwing around the term "monopoly" or "monopolistic" when they really don't know what the FUCK they are talking about.
--Toll_Free