If You thought ZANG0 was bad!!!!
 

I originally posted this as a Hmmmm.. type of comment in the SE section.

ISPs inserting code on pages
http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/...ad.php?t=44401

Seems that(as predicted) some ISPs are going ahead with inserting ads on your webpages.

From the Charter ISP website.
Often, when you surf the Internet, the advertisements you see have
little or no relevance to you or your interests. As a result of this
enhancement, Charter can display advertisements that are more likely
to be related to your interests. You will not see more ads, but some of the ads you see will be more relevant to you.
http://connect.charter.com/landing/op1.html

So if they are inserting ads, and the number of ads are the same.....
It looks like they will switch your ads for theirs.|catfight|

There is also an article on Wired.com and some of the user posts are very nasty.
- I received one of the letters Saturday and very quickly (and in saltier terms) wrote back and offered to remove the lower jaw of the VP mentioned at the bottom of the letter and to defecate in the wound for thinking this was a good idea.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/200...r-to-inse.html


There is a fast growing thread about this over here:|club|
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google...se/3649194.htm

I have Charter (stupid expensive fucks with horrible support) and I received one of these notices with the opt out link. I went to the opt out page which says that it sets a cookie, so when you clear out your temp files (cookies) you will need to opt out again! Rediculous. |angry|

But I was unclear as to exactly how they were going to be placing these ads and where. Are we talking pop-ups or contextual ads linked on certain keywords on the content.

I really hate the fact that i pay them $160 every fucking month especially on days like today when their broadband service drops out for an entire county. Way to go Charter. |thumb

Well it reads like they will placing their own ads on the page, but, not increasing the number of ads on the page.

So to do that, means they have to delete/replace the current ads on the page.

So your web page advertising banners, text links, members upsells, etc. could be replaced by an ISP with whatever they want. No toolbar required and you pretty much have no way of knowing they did it.

Yeah this isn't good for anyone... except the ISPs who will make money off of it...

With any luck people will respond negatively to it which will kill it. Its just the ISPs seeing an opportunity to line their pockets on the backs of publishers.

I can't believe big companies like this can be so stupid. Does no one stop and think, gee, if we did this, would it be a good thing or a bad thing? Would it be okay to replace other peoples ads? Any one with half a brain could come to the conclusion that it probably wouldn't fly.

Just like MS's idea with the tag thing, that went no where. How much time, money and manpower they probably spent on that, when a nit-whit with brain damage could have told them with one half a brain wave that it might cause problems.

It amazes me that companies like MS and charter and others waste their resources on crap like this when they could get a much better return by putting their resources into customer support or equipment, or even extending their market share.

I don't understand why companies feel the need to stoop to the bottom to make a extra buck or two.

Sad part is, most people wouldn't even know what's going on. My mom has charter but rarely uses her pc and would never know it was happening. She sent me her mp3 player through the mail so I could put music on it for her, many people are just not internet/computer savy enough to know.

Few days ago, my wife was bragging how she found this site where you could watch all these movies online for free. Later it came out, you had to sign up for Zango to watch them. She didn't know.

Stupid? Well, they see the chance to make mega bucks off this stuff. Most likely people won't stand up against them, so it will continue to go on and get worse. Really really sucks though.

I would never support an isp that did that. If they were the only one in my area I would move.

We did Charter one better: voted to totally end their "regulated" (HA!) monopoly. The competition is moving in neighborhood by neighborhood, offering 3x the speed of charter for half the price. Oh yeah, I am just itching for them to hit my neighborhood... |bananna|

Have I mentioned I really REALLY hate Charter?

Here's more info about the Charter move, but it still doesn't say how the ads are to be delivered. God I hope they go with pop-ups. :D

San Luis Obispo Test Market for Charter

Well they keep saying no additional ads.

Another link from the article you listed.

Lawmakers concerned over Charter's Web tracking
Charter Communications drew concern Friday from two congressmen and a privacy advocate over its plan to experiment with tracking its customers' Web use in collaboration with an online advertising firm.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24673399/

Ana baby, missed you, what you been up to!

as far as contributing to this thread...not a chance.

From the FAQ.

Does the service alter or cover up ads that I would normally see if I didn’t have this enhanced service?

No, the service does not cover up, overlay or otherwise alter existing ads that would normally be displayed. The ads that are displayed as part of this service fill ad space inventory designated as available for purchase. Currently, ads are placed through advertising networks based on a number of criteria including time of day, day of week, geographic location of user, etc. The information Charter is providing to our partner for this service is another set of criteria that they can use to display ads for advertising networks with which it is working to determine which ad is best suited for the customer based on their web surfing activity in addition to other criteria. The serving of ads through this service occurs in the same manner as with any other traditional ad network.

Hugs,
Danielle

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/200...ying-made.html

a little more information related to the above.

That's scary, makes you wonder what else they secretly log and track and how secure that info is.

sounds like they will work with existing ad providers, such as doubleclick, and display ads that are more relevant in ad space owned by doubleclick.

I still don't like this idea

Ads, seriously? How about the whole Internet going to shit?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t89WwcsOj9U

Wired.com's take on NebuAd