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This is correct. It is only performed after you are sent emails, letters, phone calls, etc. We do the same for when you are about to exceed your 300GB of data.

This is correct. It is only performed after you are sent emails, letters, phone calls, etc. We do the same for when you are about to exceed your 300GB of data. Most people don't give us a good email, don't login to check it, don't login to their comcast account, etc... This type of notification is to cover those people. We are working on better ways to do this, see: https://www.caida.org/workshops/aims/1503/slides/aims1503_bauer1.pdf https://www.caida.org/workshops/aims/1503/slides/aims1503_ba... This system is well documented: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6108 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6108 I'll bring up the idea of an opt-out for users that DO check their mail, email, phone, comcast account, etc...

JustSomeNobody 11y ago
So, you work for Comcast? May I ask what it is you do there?
- virtuallynathan 11y ago
  Internet Services engineering, mainly working on measurement, instrumentation, and customer experience. My group runs our Speed Test, SpeedExperience, Next-gen access trials, our RIPE Atlas probes/anchors, etc..
  - JustSomeNobody 11y ago
    Thanks for responding. As frustrated as I get with the business side of Comcast, the engineering side has to be pretty interesting.
    - johnmaguire2013 11y ago
      Whichever team is behind the account system needs work. Why do I have four Comcast accounts? I've only even lived at three different places. Why can I still login and "pay my bill" which still says I owe "$39.99" on my last account? I was paying into it accidentally for months before they killed my new service because I wasn't paying into the new account. It seems to me it's just hacks on top of hacks written by hacks.
      - FireBeyond 11y ago
        Yes! This happened to me too! I moved to a new house, they configured service and "transferred" my account. Three months later, my service at the new house is disconnected for non-payment. I look at my bank statement - sure enough, AutoPay happily withdrawing the amount... ... and applying it to the old house's (disconnected) cable, the account for which is now several hundred dollars in "credit" (paying $200/mo for business service). It was (relatively) easy to get resolved, thanks largely I think to the business support folks. But still... :|
coldpie 11y ago
Alternatively, your company could choose not to act as a copyright cop. Edit: Actually, reading the IETF link you posted, notifying users of a potential malware infection might be an example of how to use this technology in a non-shitty manner.
- neogodless 11y ago
  Yes, when I wrote custom page tracking software for a custom forum I wrote and hosted, I was parsing out User-Agent information and would actually notice malware browser add-ons, and I'd gently post a notice at the top of my web page alerting them that they might want to run some malware scans. Security vs. privacy right there. That was a long time ago, and I don't track anything any more, but it was an interesting experiment.
- Vendan 11y ago
  Using a shitty technique to do something arguably "good" does not make the shitty technique "good"
- crumpled 11y ago
  These companies aren't necessarily choosing to be copyright cops. I can't imagine that sounds very fun or beneficial to them. Systems were negotiated under legal pressure from the RIAA and MPAA. Of course, Time Warner and Comcast are both also content creators, so they might have some motivation to concede. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Alert_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Alert_System
fabulist 11y ago
May I ask if your comments in this thread were made in an official/"on the clock" capacity?
- virtuallynathan 11y ago
  Nada, I'm just an engineer. I try and help where possible on Reddit/DSLReports/HN.
  - fabulist 11y ago
    Thank you. (Though I'd caution you that working off the clock is an excellent way to get overworked.)
scelerat 11y ago
What's wrong with good old registered mail?
sneak 11y ago
Perhaps users that don't give you a good email don't want to hear from you. If you've sent emails, letters, and phone calls already - just stop. It's called consent, fuckers.
- softawre 11y ago
  They require you to ack, its part of their copyright platform. Would you rather they just turn off your internet until you call in?
  - Vendan 11y ago
    Maybe try a certified letter first? Also, they don't require YOU to ack, they require SOMEONE to ack, as I don't see anywhere where they actually have the "acker" verify that they are the account holder. I wonder if there is a legal loophole that the account holder could use as they can't prove that the account holder is the one that acked.
Programmatic 11y ago
Perhaps a captive portal and redirect would be a "nicer" way of doing this. At a bare minimum, it's less intrusive, and it's an accepted practice when using a provider's internet (especially wireless). Injecting JS into a page that I've requested from a third party server would erase my trust in that provider, and I would immediately cancel my service the first time my provider performed that action.

JustSomeNobody 11y ago

So, you work for Comcast? May I ask what it is you do there?

virtuallynathan 11y ago
Internet Services engineering, mainly working on measurement, instrumentation, and customer experience. My group runs our Speed Test, SpeedExperience, Next-gen access trials, our RIPE Atlas probes/anchors, etc..
- JustSomeNobody 11y ago
  Thanks for responding. As frustrated as I get with the business side of Comcast, the engineering side has to be pretty interesting.
  - johnmaguire2013 11y ago
    Whichever team is behind the account system needs work. Why do I have four Comcast accounts? I've only even lived at three different places. Why can I still login and "pay my bill" which still says I owe "$39.99" on my last account? I was paying into it accidentally for months before they killed my new service because I wasn't paying into the new account. It seems to me it's just hacks on top of hacks written by hacks.
    - FireBeyond 11y ago
      Yes! This happened to me too! I moved to a new house, they configured service and "transferred" my account. Three months later, my service at the new house is disconnected for non-payment. I look at my bank statement - sure enough, AutoPay happily withdrawing the amount... ... and applying it to the old house's (disconnected) cable, the account for which is now several hundred dollars in "credit" (paying $200/mo for business service). It was (relatively) easy to get resolved, thanks largely I think to the business support folks. But still... :|

coldpie 11y ago

Alternatively, your company could choose not to act as a copyright cop. Edit: Actually, reading the IETF link you posted, notifying users of a potential malware infection might be an example of how to use this technology in a non-shitty manner.

neogodless 11y ago
Yes, when I wrote custom page tracking software for a custom forum I wrote and hosted, I was parsing out User-Agent information and would actually notice malware browser add-ons, and I'd gently post a notice at the top of my web page alerting them that they might want to run some malware scans. Security vs. privacy right there. That was a long time ago, and I don't track anything any more, but it was an interesting experiment.
Vendan 11y ago
Using a shitty technique to do something arguably "good" does not make the shitty technique "good"
crumpled 11y ago
These companies aren't necessarily choosing to be copyright cops. I can't imagine that sounds very fun or beneficial to them. Systems were negotiated under legal pressure from the RIAA and MPAA. Of course, Time Warner and Comcast are both also content creators, so they might have some motivation to concede. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Alert_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Alert_System

fabulist 11y ago

May I ask if your comments in this thread were made in an official/"on the clock" capacity?

virtuallynathan 11y ago
Nada, I'm just an engineer. I try and help where possible on Reddit/DSLReports/HN.
- fabulist 11y ago
  Thank you. (Though I'd caution you that working off the clock is an excellent way to get overworked.)

scelerat 11y ago

What's wrong with good old registered mail?

sneak 11y ago

Perhaps users that don't give you a good email don't want to hear from you. If you've sent emails, letters, and phone calls already - just stop. It's called consent, fuckers.

softawre 11y ago
They require you to ack, its part of their copyright platform. Would you rather they just turn off your internet until you call in?
- Vendan 11y ago
  Maybe try a certified letter first? Also, they don't require YOU to ack, they require SOMEONE to ack, as I don't see anywhere where they actually have the "acker" verify that they are the account holder. I wonder if there is a legal loophole that the account holder could use as they can't prove that the account holder is the one that acked.

Programmatic 11y ago

Perhaps a captive portal and redirect would be a "nicer" way of doing this. At a bare minimum, it's less intrusive, and it's an accepted practice when using a provider's internet (especially wireless). Injecting JS into a page that I've requested from a third party server would erase my trust in that provider, and I would immediately cancel my service the first time my provider performed that action.