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Mediacom Not Talking About Javascript Ad Injection
Users Still Waiting On An Explanation...

Earlier this week we reported that Mediacom was trying something most ISPs knew better than to tinker with: they were injecting their own ads into other companies websites using what appears to be deep packet inspection and Javascript injection. According to Javascript files, the technology was provided by a company named Perftech, whose deep packet inspection appliance first sniffs, then potentially modifies, consumer traffic. The technology is used by a handful of other ISPs, but not as far as we know for advertising. Canadian cable operator Rogers for instance uses the system to warn users they're close to their usage cap. WOW at one point used it for Amber Alerts.

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Many users don't like any ISP hijacking of site code, much less advertising injection -- especially if users aren't being told the system is being used. As the week rolled on, other websites including GigaOM, Techdirt, and now the Associated Press have picked up on the story -- but Mediacom still isn't responding to any requests for comment, be it from us or anyone else. AP reporter Peter Svensson couldn't get comments from Mediacom or Perftech:
quote:
(Mediacom) won't say. Spokesman Thomas Larsen said the company's senior vice president of technology was unavailable for comment. On the company's Web forum, a complaining subscriber is told by a Mediacom representative that the issue has been "escalated to the corporate office and we are still investigating." . . . PerfTech officials were in a meeting and not immediately available to comment.
Why the silence? It's possible the targeted ads were potentially a limited trial imposed by an overly ambitious marketing department that didn't inform consumers the trial was taking place. That could potentially place the company in legal and regulatory trouble on both the state and federal levels, if you recall NebuAD's problems after ISPs failed to announce NebuAD behavioral ad trials. We won't know for sure the full details until Mediacom chooses to talk about precisely what occurred, and that may not happen until the company's lawyers have had time to assess the potential damage. Users in our Mediacom forums say they are no longer seeing the ads.

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