Begin forwarded message:
From: Rich Kulawiec <rsk@gsp.org>
Date: May 20, 2008 9:24:16 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>, Richard Forno <rforno@infowarrior.org>, Fergie <fergdawg@netzero.net>
Subject: Charter tracks user activity even if users opt out
Via The Consumerist:
UPDATE: Charter Will Track Your Internet Activity Regardless Of Whether You Opt Out
http://consumerist.com/tag/privacy/?i=5009976&t=update-charter-will-track-your-internet-activity-regardless-of-whether-you-opt-out
Excerpt:
When a customer clicks a link, advertisement, or visits a
page, Charter will capture the browsing data and send it to
the third-party advertising provider. If Charter wanted to
offer a functional opt-out, it would be at this deep-packet
inspection level. The do not offer a way out of that service,
however. The only thing they offer is the cookie-based solution
you've previously covered, which *merely tells the third-party
organization not to match the machine with the DPI-harvested data
or deliver the advertising*. Customer browsing is still being
captured and is still being turned over regardless of anyone's
individual opt-out status, but the third party is just blocked
from doing anything with it by the cookie.
I might also point out that by doing this *Charter is explicitly
requesting that their customers choose not to follow safe
browsing best practices.* [...]
I'm not sure "the third party is just blocked from doing anything with
it by the cookie" is entirely accurate, however; I think "the third
party is supposed to honor the cookie and not supposed to use the data
and not supposed to match the data against the machine" may be more likely.
---Rsk