dsldude08
Premium,VIP
join:2008-01-03
La Crosse, WI
 ·CenturyLink
| reply to seagreen
Re: Centurytel and NebuAd
I agree with your comments 1,000%. I have very loudly showed my nonacceptance of this new tracking option and hopefully they will turn their backs on it and not decide to do it. I do not see it as necessarily a privacy risk, because a lot of websites already do this, such as the common name of "geo-targeted" ads. Many, many sites use this. There are downsides to it of course, but we'll see. It has not been officially launched yet, but needless to say I'm fighting for this to be turned around. Charter has recently started doing this also, among others, FYI.
There is some ground on this with the FTC though...
»Behavioral Advertising Could Be Illegal
»FTC 'Investigating' Behavioral Advertising
»Congressmen Want To Chat With Charter Over Privacy
»Anti-Spyware Coalition Tackles Phorm, NebuAD
And there are more. *sigh* 
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"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
- Abraham Lincoln |
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seagreen
Premium,Mod
join:2001-05-14
out there
·Rock Island Commun..
Host:
CenturyTel
Wireless Service P..
Southern California
HughesNet Satellite
WildBlue Satellite
| I agree - I personally think it's outrageous that your ISP should be able to allow a third party to track your browsing habits so that you can be targeted for advertisements "to deliver or facilitate delivery of targeted online advertisements to our High Speed Internet subscribers for the purpose of providing these subscribers with a richer, more relevant Web surfing experience." Give me a break, I use pop-up blockers, hosts files and every other means at my disposal to avoid seeing unwanted advertisements.
Furthermore, there is no way the customer of the ISP should have to opt out of this tracking. The customer should have to opt IN if they want this "enriched" experience. |
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tstolze
Premium
join:2003-08-08
O Fallon, MO
·CenturyLink
1 edit | I have not done any investigating on how this works. Will it still work if you don't use CT's DNS servers?
(added) This is nice, you opt out by use of a cookie. So you have to opt out on each system used on your line, then each time the cookie is removed. 
CenturyTel's High-Speed Internet subscribers who choose not to receive targeted online advertisements can opt out at any time by clicking here or visiting »www.nebuad.com/privacy/optout.php. The opt out is accomplished through the placement of an opt out cookie and applies only to the computer and browser through which the opt out selection was made. If, after opting out, you obtain a new computer, use a different browser, or delete the opt out cookie, you must complete the opt out process again in order to maintain your opt out status. If you choose to opt out, you will continue to receive online advertisements; however, these advertisements will likely be less relevant to your interests.
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Ofallon, Mo Weather |
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dsldude08
Premium,VIP
join:2008-01-03
La Crosse, WI
·CenturyLink
| I have no idea about the DNS servers. I've heard if you don't use the same one's as your ISP that is using the tracking technology, that it will effectively avoid the targeted ads, but I'm not sure in this case, nor for Charter's. I guess we'll just have to wait and hope that it just gets turned back instead of having to find ways around it. There is, after all, an FTC investigation into this, which I undoubtedly saw coming due to the nature of the issue.
--
"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
- Abraham Lincoln |
|
seagreen
Premium,Mod
join:2001-05-14
out there
·Rock Island Commun..
Host:
CenturyTel
Wireless Service P..
Southern California
HughesNet Satellite
WildBlue Satellite
| reply to tstolze
said by tstolze  :I have not done any investigating on how this works. Will it still work if you don't use CT's DNS servers?. I don't know precisely how it works other than it is hardware wired in to the ISP's network and which uses deep packet inspection. It's doubtful that it could bypassed so simply as using other DNS servers.
FWIW: I haven't used Centurytel DNS servers for a long time because they are so slow and often unreachable. I use treewalk and OpenDNS. |
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