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Congress Takes Aim At NebuAD
Company to testify today at privacy hearing...
According to the Associated Press, Congress is holding a hearing today on online privacy, and the company that's likely to see the majority of the attention is behavioral advertising firm NebuAD. As I discussed yesterday, NebuAD, which uses deep packet inspection hardware on the ISP network to track your online activity, is developing a new opt-out system they hope will keep Uncle Sam from enacting new regulations limiting their business model.
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Dogfather
Premium Member
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

1 recommendation

Dogfather

Premium Member

NebuAD sucks and all

But with Congressional approval ratings now in the single digits and so many other problems in the country...there are certainly far more important things every Congressman and Senator should be worrying about.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

1 recommendation

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: NebuAD sucks and all

Don't worry. They won't solve this one either.

Dogfather
Premium Member
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

Dogfather

Premium Member

Re: NebuAD sucks and all

LOL. Our tons of tax dollars not at work.

tad2020
join:2007-07-17
Orange, CA

1 recommendation

tad2020

Member

Re: NebuAD sucks and all

Sure they are, just not for us.

JasonOD
@comcast.net

JasonOD to Dogfather

Anon

to Dogfather
Agreed. Let the marketplace sort this one out. This is certainly less of an issue than "we don't read your email and do anything with your search history" Google.

SLD
Premium Member
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

1 edit

1 recommendation

SLD

Premium Member

Re: NebuAD sucks and all

said by JasonOD :

Agreed. Let the marketplace sort this one out.
Perhaps if broadband was a free market, this would be a viable solution. But, since many consumers have no choice of provider due to the gov't sponsored monopoly of these services, then market forces will not work correctly.

Consider than many organizations consider internet access to be nearly as important as telephone, and that TV service is regulated as well.

knightmb
Everybody Lies
join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN

knightmb to JasonOD

Member

to JasonOD
said by JasonOD :

Agreed. Let the marketplace sort this one out. This is certainly less of an issue than "we don't read your email and do anything with your search history" Google.
You get free e-mail service. NebuAD basically would be like google doing exactly what it does now and charging a large monthly fee like the ISP would on top of the money they make from NebuAD. I fail to see where there is any "enhancement" of service except to make the company richer.

As usual, my sig is popular these days. I watch the website hits rise and fall with the news media, LOL.

NetAdmin1
CCNA
join:2008-05-22

1 recommendation

NetAdmin1 to JasonOD

Member

to JasonOD
said by JasonOD :

Agreed. Let the marketplace sort this one out.
Wow, another person who mindlessly advocates market solutions to problems that (a) can't be solved by the market and (b) are a result of the market (that provides incentives to use Nebuad)...
This is certainly less of an issue than "we don't read your email and do anything with your search history" Google.
No one is forcing you to use Google since there are dozens of search engines and email providers out there. however, in the case of many of these NebuAd providers, their subscribers don't have the luxury of an alternate choice.

JasonOD
@comcast.net

JasonOD

Anon

Re: NebuAD sucks and all

I stand by my opinion that market solutions will always yield better results than gov't imposed ones.

Point taken concerning the lack of an alternative choice.

NetAdmin1
CCNA
join:2008-05-22

NetAdmin1

Member

Re: NebuAD sucks and all

said by JasonOD :

I stand by my opinion that market solutions will always yield better results than gov't imposed ones.
Right, because the nature of the problem doesn't matter. Blindly advocating that market solutions ALWAYS yield better results, regardless of the problem, is just as bad as always advocating government imposed solutions. It would be like our team blindly rebooting equipment to solve a problem with our network. Just because rebooting resolves some problems, it doesn't fix them all.

Dogfather
Premium Member
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

1 edit

Dogfather to JasonOD

Premium Member

to JasonOD
said by JasonOD :

I stand by my opinion that market solutions will always yield better results than gov't imposed ones.

Point taken concerning the lack of an alternative choice.
The problem is with NebuAD and oligopoly, you don't have true market forces at work.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

1 recommendation

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: NebuAD sucks and all

He knows that.

"Let the marketplace sort this one out" is actually code for "let companies do whatever they want because money is the most important thing in my life and nobody should get in my way."

Dogfather
Premium Member
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

Dogfather

Premium Member

Re: NebuAD sucks and all

Some people see the 2 choices of "take it" and "leave it" as competitive forces.

RVAguy
Premium Member
join:2006-01-05
Richmond, VA

RVAguy

Premium Member

So how many would Opt-In if...

If your ISP changed their pricing tiers as a way to Opt-in/out?

Example:
39.99/10Meg w/Enhanced advertising
49.99/10Megs w/o Enhanced advertising

Which would you chose? I think that could work, if you could devise a system that would not collect any data on you based on IP address (which a static would be required in an opt-out scenario).

TechyDad
Premium Member
join:2001-07-13
USA

1 recommendation

TechyDad

Premium Member

Re: So how many would Opt-In if...

I wouldn't opt-in,but I know that a lot of people would. If they were up front about what "Enhanced Advertising" was (and didn't just refer to it as "enhanced user experience" or say it was "just as good as faster speeds"), then an opt-in situation like this would be fine by me.

But automatically including users and then expecting them to opt-out of the advertising (which may or may not opt you out of the tracking) is just wrong and possibly illegal.

Doctor Four
My other vehicle is a TARDIS
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Dallas, TX

1 recommendation

Doctor Four

Premium Member

Re: So how many would Opt-In if...

said by TechyDad:

But automatically including users and then expecting them to opt-out of the advertising (which may or may not opt you out of the tracking) is just wrong and possibly illegal.
The trouble is, the online advertising community thinks
this way, and has always thought this way. Forcing an
opt-in requirement on them is like garlic to a vampire.
LostMile
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI

LostMile to RVAguy

Premium Member

to RVAguy
So how much do these phucking ISPs make per user by selling their usage data?

Is it 10¢/month or more like $10/mo?

RVAguy
Premium Member
join:2006-01-05
Richmond, VA

RVAguy

Premium Member

Re: So how many would Opt-In if...

I have seen the monthly revenues coming in from DNS redirection, etc.. and its quite a lot. I know it helps pay for upgrades that otherwise would have been put on the back burner.

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

Re: So how many would Opt-In if...

said by RVAguy:

I have seen the monthly revenues coming in from DNS redirection, etc.. and its quite a lot. I know it helps pay for upgrades that otherwise would have been put on the back burner.
Can you give us some ballpark idea -- what would they be for a largish ISP or a smallish-ISP or per account or something?
funchords

funchords to LostMile

MVM

to LostMile
Karl has info about $2.50 per account per month ... »Infighting At ISPs Over Using NebuAD [79] comments

TechyDad
Premium Member
join:2001-07-13
USA

TechyDad

Premium Member

Re: So how many would Opt-In if...

Given that figure, and the fact that Charter has about 5.6 million subscribers, Charter stood to gain $14 million per month, or $168 million annually from the NebuAD deal. Their current annual revenues are around $6 billion, so an additional $168 million isn't a trivial amount.

RVAguy
Premium Member
join:2006-01-05
Richmond, VA

RVAguy to funchords

Premium Member

to funchords
said by funchords:

Karl has info about $2.50 per account per month ... »Infighting At ISPs Over Using NebuAD [79] comments
I would say 2.50 per month is a little on the high side, but probably closer to $1.50 per month.

And I know, you could say, well why not just increase the price of the HSI by that, but bean counters will do that and still want the advertising. Also, inside of corporate world, you have to find "alternative" ways to create revenue rather than proposing price increases. This helps justify your departments, and increases your budget. Its a lot of politics involved.

kfsutops
Premium Member
join:2002-08-19
Lutz, FL

kfsutops

Premium Member

What about the CAPS???

Would RR still charge me for these adds since they consume bandwidth?

So I get charged per byte bandwidth and RR would have the ability to force me to use that bandwidth on their adds that they get paid for using.

Isn't that special?

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

9% Baby!

Congress now has a 9% approval rating. Perhaps it needs to take some cues from Comcast and/or the IRS as to how to improve its perception among the public.

Robert
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Miami, FL

Robert

Premium Member

Re: 9% Baby!

said by pnh102:

Congress now has a 9% approval rating. Perhaps it needs to take some cues from Comcast and/or the IRS as to how to improve its perception among the public.
Both the IRS and Congress are part of the government, and unlike Comcast, really don't care what their approval ratings are.

IT Guy
Ow, My Balls
Premium Member
join:2004-07-29
Las Cruces, NM
Cisco ASA 5505
Cisco Meraki MX64

IT Guy

Premium Member

Re: 9% Baby!

said by Robert:

said by pnh102:

Congress now has a 9% approval rating. Perhaps it needs to take some cues from Comcast and/or the IRS as to how to improve its perception among the public.
Both the IRS and Congress are part of the government, and unlike Comcast, really don't care what their approval ratings are.
The IRS is not a part of the government, they are a private entity that is contracted by the government.

Robert
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Miami, FL

1 edit

Robert

Premium Member

Re: 9% Baby!

said by IT Guy:

said by Robert:

said by pnh102:

Congress now has a 9% approval rating. Perhaps it needs to take some cues from Comcast and/or the IRS as to how to improve its perception among the public.
Both the IRS and Congress are part of the government, and unlike Comcast, really don't care what their approval ratings are.
The IRS is not a part of the government, they are a private entity that is contracted by the government.
The IRS is very much part of the federal government, and therefore is not considered a private entity according to the courts.

Regardless of they are contracted or not, they are not in jeopardy if going out of business because of bad customer service.
driscollw80
join:2005-08-15
Virginia Beach, VA

driscollw80

Member

Doesn't matter

Who cares what they do, all your traffic is being handled over to the US with the assistance of AT&T. Since many people use AT&T backbones anyway, we don't have much privacy to begin with.

NebuAD, buy yourself some government officials and get your illegal activity put into a bill. It's a lot easier than answering privacy questions by congress or worrying about that pain the #$%#@% US constitution.
bjbrock9
join:2002-10-28
Mcalester, OK

bjbrock9

Member

Law makers are simply extorting...

these ad companies. Once these corporation and their lobbyists put enough money into the coffers of these specific lawmaker, directly or indirectly, all will be forgiven. Then this hideous practice of sniffing every packet you send out will continue without a word.

We possibly may see some type of data mining agreement between these companies and the powers that be as well.

Until the public actually stands up and does something about our loss of privacy nothing will change. Your world is an open book for anyone in the right place or with enough money can read - anytime they want.