[Infowarrior] - Fwd: Charter tracks user activity even if users opt out

[Richard Forno]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Rich Kulawiec <rsk at gsp.org>
> Date: May 20, 2008 9:24:16 PM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave at farber.net>, Richard Forno <rforno at infowarrior.org 
> >, Fergie <fergdawg at netzero.net>
> Subject: Charter tracks user activity even if users opt out
>
> Via The Consumerist:
>
> 	UPDATE: Charter Will Track Your Internet Activity Regardless Of  
> Whether You Opt Out
> 	http://consumerist.com/tag/privacy/?i=5009976&t=update-charter-will-track-your-internet-activity-regardless-of-whether-you-opt-out
>
> Excerpt:
>
> 	When a customer clicks a link, advertisement, or visits a
> 	page, Charter will capture the browsing data and send it to
> 	the third-party advertising provider.  If Charter wanted to
> 	offer a functional opt-out, it would be at this deep-packet
> 	inspection level.  The do not offer a way out of that service,
> 	however.  The only thing they offer is the cookie-based solution
> 	you've previously covered, which *merely tells the third-party
> 	organization not to match the machine with the DPI-harvested data
> 	or deliver the advertising*.  Customer browsing is still being
> 	captured and is still being turned over regardless of anyone's
> 	individual opt-out status, but the third party is just blocked
> 	from doing anything with it by the cookie.
>
> 	I might also point out that by doing this *Charter is explicitly
> 	requesting that their customers choose not to follow safe
> 	browsing best practices.* [...]
>
> I'm not sure "the third party is just blocked from doing anything with
> it by the cookie" is entirely accurate, however; I think "the third
> party is supposed to honor the cookie and not supposed to use the data
> and not supposed to match the data against the machine" may be more  
> likely.
>
> ---Rsk