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| What NebuAD can do For the folks worried about NebuAD selling their browsing history, that is only part of the issue. Yes, their hardware can capture that, but it can do a lot more than that. Remember, they're using deep packet inspection. Not only can they get the URLs you visit, they can get the content of the page, including any posts you might make to a discussion forum. But it goes further than that. Packets aren't simply carrying Web traffic. Do you use POP3 or IMAP to access e-mail? That can also be read, unless you have an encrypted connection. Are you listening to online radio or watching video? They can grab that content if they so choose. Are you uploading and downloading files, such as word processing docs or spreadsheets? They can capture those, too.
Basically, if the traffic isn't encrypted, they can see it. All of it.
Now, even if you trust NebuAD to do the right thing, having that box there can raise other issues. First, let's get the government spying one out of the way. If there's this box there at the gateway of your ISP that can monitor all the incoming and outgoing packets, it becomes very convenient to demand access to said box. Even if you believe the NSA is monitoring all traffic on the backbones, they aren't sharing that access wholesale to legitimate law enforcement agencies. However, with the NebuAD box there, any national, state, or local agency can go to court for access any time they like. And it becomes easy for politicians or police to demand that the box be set to flag any "suspicious" traffic. You know, to protect the children. Remember, the box is already looking at the content, and it's designed from the ground up to track your habits, so having it flag specific content becomes quite easy.
And searching for and flagging content isn't just for the government. Suppose you're a corporate lawyer worried about damaging information being posted online by a whistleblower. You can't get access to the site where the info is posted because it's located overseas. Up to now, that was a problem. But with this box, you just have to subpoena the data from the big national ISPs. Demand that they watch for and log traffic to that site, and you'll likely find your whistleblower. Even if the traffic was encrypted, you could demand that the data stream be captured for later analysis, then you can have a court order the defendant to turn over the decryption key. And even if this won't catch every single whistleblower, how many would think twice before making a post, wondering if their traffic was being monitored?
And it also becomes easy for the **AA to demand that the box be set to log any potentially-illegal downloads. Ditto for software companies looking for pirated software. And even if you never download this stuff, mistakes will happen, and once someone is branded a pirate by this supposedly infallible box, they'll almost have to prove they didn't do it.
And here's the best part. For a criminal, gaining access to such a box would be a gold mine of useful information. Not only would it be great for identity theft, but it could also be used to blackmail users, especially corporate users. And corporate espionage would be much easier, too. Sure, many companies secure their connections, but many smaller ones don't, especially smaller ones with less computer-savvy users. How many folks have sent sensitive info in e-mails, thinking that, since the message is intended for another user within the company, that it won't get sent out onto the Internet, never realizing that their mail server is located halfway across the country? And it isn't necessary to infect a single PC. Compromise that box, and you have access to all the ISP's traffic.
So if you think this NebuAD box is just about your Web surfing, think again. | | |
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| said by ISurfTooMuch:Remember, they're using deep packet inspection. Not only can they get the URLs you visit, they can get the content of the page, including any posts you might make to a discussion forum. But it goes further than that. Packets aren't simply carrying Web traffic. Do you use POP3 or IMAP to access e-mail? You really think NebuAD can analyze 20-30 Gigs of traffic per second? Cause that's the kind of traffic riding around ISP networks. I'd like to see the specs of that box if that's the case. I'd maybe buy the fact it can look at web traffic, but their are way worse things than NebuAD out there. | |
 funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:5 | said by gotreal :
You really think NebuAD can analyze 20-30 Gigs of traffic per second? Cause that's the kind of traffic riding around ISP networks. I'd like to see the specs of that box if that's the case. I'd maybe buy the fact it can look at web traffic, but their are way worse things than NebuAD out there.
I think it can forward that much, yes. And then NebuAd can put to work as many boxen as it wants to.
That said, I read somewhere that they need one device for every 30K to 50K customers.
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
HTTP is the new Bandwidth Hog...
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| said by funchords:I think it can forward that much, yes. That's the issue. Too many people just "think" before they stop to think about the technicalities. The question was kind of rhetorical. There is no way that box can do 20-30 Gigs. I'd suggest you learn a bit about ISP network architecture before assuming so much. | |
funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:5 | I suggest that you don't assume what I know or don't know. | |
| said by funchords:I suggest that you don't assume what I know or don't know. And you keep right on assuming this is some kind of deep packet inspection box, with throughput capabilities of Cisco and Juniper's most giant routers. | |
funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:5 | said by gotreal :said by funchords:I suggest that you don't assume what I know or don't know. And you keep right on assuming this is some kind of deep packet inspection box, with throughput capabilities of Cisco and Juniper's most giant routers. 1. »www.nebuad.com/company/press_rel···ease.pdf ... about NebuAd using Juniper's E120 device capable of 120 Gbps
2. »www.nebuad.com/company/press_rel···4_07.php ... about NebuAd's CEO Bob Dykes leaving Juniper to join NebuAd
... do you care to continue this rooster-size war or are you ready to give?
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
HTTP is the new Bandwidth Hog...
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