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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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Anyone using Charter for internet service?

I just got a form letter from Charter, announcing that they're going to provide an "enhanced online experience".

Those three words immediately turn my cynical brain even more negative.

Explanation is found at:

https://connect.charter.com/landing/op1.html

They're planning to make ads I see online more "targeted" to my lifestyle.

LOL - if they knew my lifestyle, the ads would target frugality, not spending!

OK - so the idea of placing cookies on the user's computer isn't new. But how the heck can an ISP like Charter place any cookies, unless the user is browsing the Charter website itself? I thought cookies were placed by websites, not by ISP's.

Any ideas how this actually works? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks.
Tom
 
Alan - thanks for the link. Lots of good stuff there. Believe me, if I had a choice of highspeed ISPs, I'd have changed years ago.

Question: I "get" the concept of the ISP selling the sites I've visited to an advertising agency (in the UK, it was Phorm).

But how can Phorm (or whatever ...) actually place specific ads on my browser pages? I could have sworn that the *websites* I visit choose the ads, not the ISP.

Is that even technically possible? Seems it would somehow need to be able to "override" the ads already linked on pages created by websites.

Tom
 
There's a discussion (probably several if you look around) about this on dslreports, and again here.

I'd have to get involved with their set up to really know how the ads will look in the html code, but I'd bet you can eliminate most of the problem by simply using firefox with adblock running. You can block an awful lot of the ads generated by some of the companies that use similar methods of spreading advertising, and you can set up firefox to block cookies from charter (or whoever they're in bed with).

It is my understanding that they won't be adding advertising to sites like BCF arbitrarily. The ads will show up on sites that are involved with the advertising scheme they're participating in...kind of like google ads, and other companies. In other words, the site you're visiting has to already have things set up to embed advertising in their content. Charter (etc) is just setting up a way to customize the ads you see based on your web-browsing habits.

I don't particularly like some of this stuff, but it's a lot better than the advertising schemes that forced popup window advertising by watching what websites you go to. You'd go to Delta Airline's website, for example, and a window would pop up telling you about deals you could be getting at Continental Airlines.

**EDIT: The one big bothersome problem with this new scheme is that the ISP apparently redirects your web-browser's request for a website to their own adware system. That system sets a cookie on your machine, tracks your web-browsing habits, then goes about the process of having the targeted ads in place. The actual viewing of the ads isn't the problem - it's the fact that they're forcing all your web browsing through an advertising mill first. That's my take on it, anyway.
 
Scott - excellent point about the redirect. In the last couple months I've noticed that if I mistype a url, I automatically get a Charter "search" page which suggests similar sites. And of course, the top half of that page is "sponsored links".

Man how I'd love to find some legal and/or financial way to stop the "snooping".

By the way, I use a couple ad-blockers already, so it's not the ads that tick me off. It's the redirecting and recording of the sites I visit.

Yeesh - I'm already paying $54/mo for Charter's 3m/128k service. Now they're "enhancing" their service to me by selling info about me.

hmmm ... there's gotta be some angle of attack here.

Tom
 
aerog said:
**EDIT: The one big bothersome problem with this new scheme is that the ISP apparently redirects your web-browser's request for a website to their own adware system. That system sets a cookie on your machine, tracks your web-browsing habits, then goes about the process of having the targeted ads in place. The actual viewing of the ads isn't the problem - it's the fact that they're forcing all your web browsing through an advertising mill first. That's my take on it, anyway.
Click to expand...

Yup.
EVERYTHING goes through their site.
Think about that the next time you log onto your bank account...
 
Just out of curiosity ... if I visit CNN.com, and CNN configures their pages to show me ads for LLBean and GMC ... does the Charter redirect mean that Charter is replacing and/or adding other ads to the CNN page?

In other words - modifying the CNN code?

I swear I can't see how that can be done w/o CNN's ok. And if so, wouldn't that mean that Charter has to get an ok from every single website you visit in order to "replace" or modify the ads originally chosen by the website?

T.
 
I tried Charter Internet way back in 2001/2002... it was the worst "high speed" internet service I ever had; unreliable speeds, unreliable connections, unreliable modems....

I switched to Earthlink DSL after them and was happy for a long while, until I decided I wanted to up my speed and make my IP static....

I'm with Linkline DSL now. Best "high speed" internet service I've ever used. Static IP with speeds the other guys either promised and couldn't deliver or just didn't offer, AND at a price point that made them a no-brainer for me.
 
NutmegCT said:
Just out of curiosity ... if I visit CNN.com, and CNN configures their pages to show me ads for LLBean and GMC ... does the Charter redirect mean that Charter is replacing and/or adding other ads to the CNN page?

In other words - modifying the CNN code?

I swear I can't see how that can be done w/o CNN's ok. And if so, wouldn't that mean that Charter has to get an ok from every single website you visit in order to "replace" or modify the ads originally chosen by the website?

T.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily.
If you go to images.google.com and search for something, they show you the website of the image you select in a frame. That's a simple example of modifying the original html. Imagine the frame for CNN showing adverts for Fox.

I was reading this today.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/10/american_isps_embrace_behavioral_ad_targeting/

The more I read about this stuff, the less I like it. The idea that I have to pay to have someone store stuff on my pc AND use my bandwidth to ship to me unwanted advertising just sticks in my craw. If you are going to do this then the access should be free at the very least. It feels like I'm paying to have them use my stuff.

Then again, this little gem - for those with the patience to read it - is even worse imo.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/12/inside_comscore/
 
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