This Is Just Downright Evil

“Texas based ISP Redmoon has implemented software that hijacks pages being visited by their customers by placing Redmoon’s own ads on these pages.The technology is provided by NebuAD, which boasts that ISP delivered advertisements are an untapped source of revenue.

Every single web site owner is affected by NebuAD’s technology: whether a site is running ads or not makes no difference, Customers of any ISP evil enough to run NebuAD’s platform are going to see ads on every page on every site; ads that don’t benefit the content creator. It is important to note that these ads are NOT pop-ups, and this is not a free internet service; the ads are served as if they were part of the page, to paying internet customers who are NOT made aware that these ads have been inserted by their ISP.”

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AT&T Giving Consumers The Runaround Over Secret $10 DSL

“AT&T is required to offer a $10 DSL option to those consumers who are in AT&T’s 22 state coverage area and who have not previously subscribed to AT&T DSL. This requirement is part of concessions made to the FTC so that AT&T could merge with BellSouth and take over Cingular.Getting AT&T to actually sign you up for the plan, however, may be more difficult. We’ve been hearing that consumers who try to sign up for the plan are getting a sales pitch for a more expensive plan, hung up on, transferred to the switchboard, etc.”

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AT&T Quietly Offers $10 DSL Plan

“Without any sort of fanfare, AT&T Inc. (ATT, News) has started offering a broadband Internet service for $10 a month, cheaper than any advertised plan.The DSL, or digital subscriber line, plan introduced Saturday is part of the concessions made by AT&T to the Federal Communications Commission to get its $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. approved last December.

The $10 offer is available to customers in the 22-state AT&T service region, which includes former BellSouth areas, who have never had AT&T or BellSouth broadband, spokesman Michael Coe confirmed Monday. Local phone service and a one-year contract are required. The modem is free.”

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Which ISPs Are Spying On You?

“The few souls that attempt to read and understand website privacy policies know they are almost universally unintelligible and shot through with clever loopholes. But one of the most important policies to know is your internet service provider’s — the company that ferries all your traffic to and from the internet, from search queries to BitTorrent uploads, flirty IMs to porn.Wired News, with help from some readers, attempted to get real answers from the largest United States-based ISPs about what information they gather on their customers’ use of the internet, and how long they retain records like IP addresses, e-mail and real-time browsing activity. Most importantly, we asked what they require from law-enforcement agencies before coughing up the data, and whether they sell your data to marketers.

Only four of the eight largest ISPs responded to the 10-question survey, despite being contacted repeatedly over the course of two months. Some ISPs wouldn’t talk to us, but gave answers to customers responding to a call for reader help on Wired’s Threat Level blog.”

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DirecTV Looks At Offering Broadband Access Through Power Lines

“According to several announcements, Cable Internet access is getting the boost it needs. Most recently, Comcast announced that a new cable modem technology was in the works and would give customers speeds of up to 150 megabits per second (Mbps). Analysts say that Comcast’s cable modem development is due largely to competition from fiber to the premises (FTTP) technologies such as Verizon’s Fiber Optics Service (FiOS).

This week DirecTV made the announcement that it too will give cable technology a run for its money. The satellite television provider told reporters that it plans to provide broadband Internet access by delivering the service through power lines.”

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