Charter Communications Customer Tracking "Opt-Out" A Piece Of Crap

Yesterday, we brought you news of the ridiculous new programme by ISP Charter Communications to track their customer's every move on the Internet in order to serve them with targeted advertising via advertising company NebuAd.

Charter tried to temper the negative reaction to the programme by saying customers have an option to opt-out of the tracking system, but a reader who goes by the name Fenn, who has the bad luck of being a Charter Communications customer, wrote to us regarding his experiences on trying to use the opt-out feature:

I followed the link to "Opt-Out" and was blown away by the audacity of the warning text:

"If you would like to opt-out of this process, please fill out the form below and click "submit". The third-party opt-out process requires you to permit a cookie to be downloaded onto your computer so that the ad network can read your opt-out status in your cookie folder. Therefore, if you delete your cookies or cache files, use a different computer, buy a new computer, or use a different web browser from the one you are using at this time, you will have to opt-out again."

I mean, come on...if we are paranoid already, we will be clearing our cookies often and this thing tells me I will have to return to Charter's website each time to "Re-Opt-Out."

TOO MUCH!

So, to add insult to injury, they make the opt-out process equally stupid and onerous?

I urge any of our readers that may be Charter customers to call and complain to the company and threated to switch ISPs so that they can get an idea that this is not the way to conduct business.

I would also recommend sending your experiences over to the EFF, so that they can help defend your privacy concerns against Charter Communications.

It's this kind of thing that really gets me angry. I'm going to go fume in a corner after I place a call to an EFF buddy of mine.