how-to block ads
|
|
Uniqs:
316 |
Share Topic
 |
 |
|
|
 onDvineDon't litter. Spay-neuter.Premium
join:2005-01-29
So. CA, USA
kudos:7 | There are 2 options, it seems: People can give up privacy or give up Internet use.
Comcast "revamped" the privacy policy and TOS similarly when they took over attbi's customers in 2003.
They set it up slick: if the first thing the customers did on the day of the transition (when comcast dropped their previously nice attitude) was go to comcast's site to see if they'd changed the TOS, etc., since the day before, by using their service to get there, you'd already agreed to the new terms, sight unseen.
--
Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right. ▪▪A. Schopenhauer | |
| said by onDvine:People can give up privacy or give up Internet use. Comcast "revamped" the privacy policy and TOS similarly when they took over attbi's customers in 2003. They set it up slick: if the first thing the customers did on the day of the transition (when comcast dropped their previously nice attitude) was go to comcast's site to see if they'd changed the TOS, etc., since the day before, by using their service to get there, you'd already agreed to the new terms, sight unseen. That's pathetic. | |
onDvineDon't litter. Spay-neuter.Premium
join:2005-01-29
So. CA, USA
kudos:7
1 edit | It was worse than pathetic. They installed tgcmd.exe and created folders with encrypted info about my system/bookmarked sites, etc., in places they didn't expect customers to look. The contents were ready for them to access at will.
I happened to notice how many files were created when their supposedly simple Transition Wizard did its thing. They'd made additional changes in the TOS giving themselves the right to install whatever they chose on MY computer without telling me.
They did EXACTLY what they'd stated (in very reassuring terms prior to the takeover date) they would NOT do.
We'd have cancelled service except the only other options were dial-up or SBC's DSL. When we'd tried to get the DSL with my husband's employee discount in 2000, the drama ended with the technician leaving our home literally running because he PRETENDED it was working after 4 hours of dicking around. He wanted to be in his truck before we had time to sit down and find out we still weren't connected to anything.
They didn't send anyone to follow up the next day or the day after that, so we got service from RoadRunner which became MediaOne, then AT&T Broadband Internet and finally comcast. An employee discount on something that didn't work was worthless.
Based on my mini-rant tonight, you can see that three years later I'm still angry and frustrated by the lack of any high-speed providers that aren't pond scum.
--
Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right. ▪▪A. Schopenhauer | |
awluck
join:2000-05-24
Duluth, GA | "tgcmd.exe and created folders with encrypted info about my system/bookmarked sites, etc., in places they didn't expect customers to look"
Is there a litany/FAQ of these type of practices? Could one be started in the Security forum? I had heard of some of these in passing, but my response has always been to NOT INSTALL any provider based software, purchase my own firewall, and generally use applications purchased at retail. Google "Do No Evil" anyone? Of course, most everything probably has a tracking component these days, but I see no need to make it easy for them. | |
onDvineDon't litter. Spay-neuter.Premium
join:2005-01-29
So. CA, USA
kudos:7 | said by awluck:... I see no need to make it easy for them. comcast put tremendous pressure on attbi's customers to use the T-Wiz. If they'd pushed any more, we'd have found a technician at our door, ready to install it as a suppository.
At the time, I had a mentor who was a Global Moderator at Wilders. He began my education about computer security (better late than never) and ran the T-Wiz on his own machine before the date of the official transition, using a packet-sniffer, which is/was technology way over my head. He found nothing to indicate what was to come and had no reason to expect it because it would've been illegal to do such things in the Netherlands, where he lives.
After most of the garbage had been removed, there was one last piece of crap in there which opened a big window covering my desktop with their logo when I booted. It said I had no Internet connection and would not until I installed the T-Wiz which it sensed was no longer there. By then, I was wiser and closed the window using the X in the upper right corner. The Internet was still there; comcast just plain lied to intimidate whoever they could into doing it their way.
So we didn't install it like sheep without any advance investigation. The mistake was in believing a corporation of that size, providing what we considered to be a utility, would have some respect for their customers and/or the truth.
Each of us had to have an experience that taught us when not to trust, and I haven't believed a word from a for-profit corporation since.
--
Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right. ▪▪A. Schopenhauer | |
|
