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I Wonder If Comcast Has Been Reading My Posts? [UPDATED]

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 25, 2008 by itnerd

I was visiting the New York Times website today and noticed this article about Comcast monitoring blogs, Twitter and other forms of social networking for negative posts about Comcast. When they find something negative, they reach out to the poster:

“Comcast says the online outreach is part of a larger effort to revamp its customer service. In just about five months, Mr. Eliason, whose job redefines customer service, has reached out to well over 1,000 customers online.”

I must admit that I have seen this in action on DSLReports.com (with some negative reactions to it) and I have to admit that two things pop to mind when I read this:

  1. This really sounds a bit “Orwellian” to me. As a result, it kind of creeps me out.
  2. Comcast might get better results putting this sort of effort into ALL of their customer service rather than monitoring blogs and the like. After all, if you defuse these problems up front with excellent customer service, there’s no need for anything like this.

Just a thought.

UPDATE: Apparently, the answer is yes to the question “I Wonder If Comcast Has Been Reading My Posts?” If you check the comments, “Frank” (whom I assume is Frank Eliason who is referenced in the NYT article) of Comcast has posted a reply barely two hours after I posted this story. As for why it creeps me out “Frank”, it’s simple really. I fully understand that Comcast is leveraging these tools to get “face time” with your customers as well as change perceptions about the company, and at first glance it seems like a great idea. But at some level it creeps me out because of the fact that it appears that Comcast is constantly scanning for anything negative about it a way that seems to remind me of something that China would do. Granted it’s for a good cause and you’re not censoring anything the way China would, but it is still sort of creepy. Not bad in any way, just creepy.

Having said that, I think that if Comcast is able to have better customer service on the front end it would eliminate the potential of bloggers like me talking about Comcast in negative ways. The fact that Comcast is trying is a good sign. But Comcast needs to execute and show positive results quickly IMHO.

BTW “Frank” we have a couple of companies in Canada named Rogers and Bell who have a reputation of having Comcastic service. Any chance you could come up here and make them see the light?

🙂

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Kevin Martin Flip Flops On Comcast…. That Sucks!

Posted in Commentary with tags , on July 12, 2008 by itnerd

Just when you were ready to throw a party to celebrate the demise of Comcast, comes this news that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is now saying that there will be no fines handed out to Comcast.

How absolutely Comcastic.

Martin had the chance to send a strong message that ISPs can’t do the sort of things that Comcast has done (and denied until the proof was shoved in their face). But instead he is going to let Comcast off the hook. Granted the FCC may have felt that they might not have had a legal leg to stand on, but don’t get our hopes up by saying that you’re going to kick some butt and then wimp out.

Oh well, here’s hoping that Bell and Rogers get thrashed.

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Comcast, Rogers, Bell All Have Bad News On The Throttling Front

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , on July 11, 2008 by itnerd

Imagine that you’re the CEO’s of any of the above ISPs. You’re going to wake up to the news that your life is about to get a lot more complicated. How? Let me list the ways:

  • Comcast got the absolutely Comcastic news that FCC chairman Kevin Martin thinks that Comcast needs to be punished for it’s throttling activites. He goes on to say that “The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet,” Martin told The Associated Press late Thursday. “We found that Comcast’s actions in this instance violated our principles.”
  • Rogers and Bell found out that The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) at the University of Ottawa has put a post in the forums of DSLReports.com late on Thursday saying that “We are interested from hearing from individuals who are subscribers to Bell or Rogers’ high speed internet services who are concerned about alleged internet throttling practices by Bell and Rogers”. This is likely a prelude to a class action lawsuit.

Anyone want to take bets as to how fast it takes these companies to either circle their legal wagons?

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Comast Circulates Woman’s Cheque Online – How Comcastic!

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 6, 2008 by itnerd

According to the Associated Press, a woman sent Comcast a cheque made out to them with “My Right Arm and Zero Dollars” as  the amount as a protest against their high prices. The geniuses at Comcast then took the cheque and photocopied it and circulated it around the Internet, exposing all her personal information (like her name, address, and bank account) in the process. She’s now suing them for invading her privacy.

What an absolutely Comcastic move!

The Comcast Must Die blog has more details from the person in question. With stuff like this, it should be pretty freaking clear why people hate Comcast so much.

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Comcast.net Hackers Speak…. This Is Too Funny – NSFW

Posted in Commentary with tags , on May 30, 2008 by itnerd

If you want some cheap entertainment, take a look at this Wired article which has an interview with the guys who hacked Comcast.net (as I reported here yesterday). This interview absolutely had me laughing my head off.

Some observations.

  1. According to the hackers, they warned Comcast first but were blown off: “If he wasn’t such a prick, he could have avoided all of that,” says EBK.
  2. There’s a picture of one of the hackers (apparently from his MySpace account) using a bong. The fact that a someone actually set up a camera in his (or his parents) bathroom to take a picture of himself using a bong, and then posted it on his MySpace account is just sad.
  3. They’re no strangers to law enforcement: “I slept in my clothes, because the last time they came, I was in my underwear with my dong hanging out and shit,” says Defiant.
  4. They did it because they hate Comcast’s service (Comcast has bad service? That can’t be true!): “I wasn’t even really thinking. Plus, I’m just so mad at Comcast. I’m tired of their shitty service.”
  5. They could have done more damage than they did: “Nobody was listening in on the ports to try and get usernames and password,” says Defiant. “We could have, but we didn’t.”
  6. The hackers apparently used a social engineering attack. Network Solutions says that’s bogus: “There was no breach in our system or social engineering situation on our end.”

So, I expect the following will happen:

  • They’ll be arrested and perp walked.
  • These hackers 15 minutes of fame will turn into 15 months of prison time. Then they will become “consultants” when they get out.
  • Network Solutions will quietly fix their social engineering issues before someone sues them.
  • Comcast will go on with business as usual.
  • Someone else will do something to Comcast because of their Comcastic service.

Let’s see what happens next.

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Comcast.net Gets Hacked…… HA HA!

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on May 29, 2008 by itnerd

It’s being reported all over the net that Comcast was hacked (just check this link, this link, and this link for examples) late yesterday. Apparently their Network Solutions account was compromised so that the authoritative DNS servers that tell your computer how to get to comcast.net were changed to send traffic a page that said the following:

KRYOGENICS Defiant and EBK RoXed Comcast
sHouTz to VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven

I don’t know who should be more embarrassed. Comcast for having an Network Solutions account that could be compromised or Network Solutions for allowing it to happen. In any case, it may take until tomorrow to get everything up and running again. Hopefully, both Comcast and Network Solutions can make sure that this doens’t happen again. Otherwise it will be totally Comcastic for both of them.

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FCC Holds Net Neutrality Hearings… Comcast Ducks It

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on April 18, 2008 by itnerd

The FCC held its en banc hearings into Net Neutrality on Thursday at Stanford University. Oddly, Comacast was a no show at this hearing. Perhaps it’s because they didn’t want to answer questions about the stunt that they pulled at the last round of hearings where they tried to put people into seats to keep out their opponents? Who knows. But it was a good hearing because you got a lot of viewpoints on both sides of the issue. For example, Robb Topolski, the software engineer who ignited controversy around Comcast’s disruption of BitTorrent peer-to-peer traffic, made BitTorrent users everywhere happy by giving his side of the story:

“Consumers were harmed when (Comcast) decided it would do something secretive and non-standard on the Internet,” Topolski said, referring to Internet service provider’s use of so-called reset tags to disrupt the transfer of large files from BitTorrent. The situation continues today. It has not stopped, despite all the wonderful agreements between BitTorrent and Comcast. I’m a ham radio operator. And Comcast is jamming authorized communication (on the Internet). I ask that before you leave today you signal your intent to stop these interferences.”

Meanwhile Rick Carnes of Songwriters Guild of America said that ISPs should be able to manage traffic on their networks and filter the transfer of pirated content:

“If regulation is to be considered, which we hope it isn’t, than illegal file-sharing should be at the top of the agenda.”

Gee. That sounds a bit like “Big Brother” does it not?

The quote I like is the one from FCC Commissioner Michael Copps:

“While we’re debating, the industry is using that time to decide on what will be the future of the Internet.”

That my friends is 100% true. Time to start doing something.

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BREAKING NEWS: Comcast To Stop Targeting BitTorrent Traffic

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on March 27, 2008 by itnerd

I just came across this article that says that the targeting of BitTorrent traffic by Comcast will end. Not only that, but Comcast will increase it’s broadband capacity so that it can handle this sort of traffic. In return BitTorrent will make it’s software more efficient and ensure that developers of BitTorrent clients learn how to do the same thing. Of course, the fact that the FCC was breathing down Comcast’s neck had absolutely nothing to do with this. But still, this is great news. Now if other ISP’s who screw with BitTorrent traffic will do the same, the world will be a better place. (Rogers, Bell, are you listening?)

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FCC & Net Neutrality – Round 2

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on March 19, 2008 by itnerd

It looks like the FCC is going to have a second look at the Net Neutrality issue. According to this post, the FCC has scheduled a new round of network neutrality & traffic shaping public hearings at Stanford on April 17. This is interesting as the FCC had denied that were going to do that not to long ago. Perhaps Comcast’s absolutely Comcastic stunt of hiring people to fill the seats in the last hearing made the FCC reconsider? Who knows. But it’s a good thing for anyone who is in favor of Network Neutrality.

One tip: Arrive early to get yourself a seat just in case Comcast has any evil ideas. 

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FCC To Slap Comcast…. Or Not

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on March 11, 2008 by itnerd

I just noticed this piece over at news.com which seems to indicate that the FCC is none too pleased about Comcast and their packet shaping activities. As a result, they are toying with the idea of doing something about it. Kevin Martin who is the head honcho over at the FCC said the following recently:

“A hallmark of what should be seen as a reasonable business practice is certainly whether or not the people engaging in that practice are willing to describe it publicly,”

If you’ve followed this story, Comcast wouldn’t admit to their packet shaping activities until the Associated Press proved that they were doing it. So it comes as no surprise that the FCC might take a dim view of that. The problem is, what can they truly do about it. The story points out that there are no net-neutrality laws on the books at the moment and the FCC’s own net-neutrality principles are not legally binding. Still, the Comcast circus might be enough to get the U.S. house and senate to pass some net-neutrality laws to stop this from happening in the future. In some ways, that might be worse (for Comcast and other ISP’s) then anything the FCC could/might do.

Perhaps someone with a legal background would be kind enough to leave a comment about what the FCC can do to Comcast. I’m sure we’d all like to gain some insight on this issue.

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