IP: More on Comcast

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Art Wolinsky <awolinsky () oii org>
Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 17:23:08 -0500
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Cc: DUC () edu-cyberpg com
Subject: More on Comcast

Hi David,

Since Karen Ellis forwared my message about possible Comcast spyware to
your list, I have gotten dozens of messages and even phone calls from
around the country from folks who had Comcast horror stories that magically
went away after uninstalling their software.  I have been online since the
BBS days of 1980 and nothing that I have written has generated as much
personal mail as this issue.

Based on the number of responses I have received I have to wonder about
just how many people are actually having problems as a result of the
software installation.  I believe that Comcast has not only cost a large
number of their customers undue heart ache, but the have created a ripple
effect that is costing many other totally unrelated businesses money.

For example, it was a Sunday afternoon when things got so bad on my
computer that I was considering reformatting the hard drive because I could
no use the client software for my intranet.  Before I reformatted I decided
I would wait until Monday and call up tech support for the company that
makes our intranet software.   That's when I discovered the Support.com and
Broadjump software.

So let's keep track.  Comcast had already cost me more than a few days work
because of my problems connecting to my intranet over a period of a
week.  Multiply that by the untold number of other Comcast customers
experiencing difficulty.

When I got to work five different people had left messages for me about
having difficulty connecting to the intranet.  Surprise, surprise.  They
were all Comcast customers.  I sent them my message.  No more problems.

If I hadn't known about the Comcast software, I can only imagine how long I
would have struggled unsuccessfully to resolve their connection
problems.  That got me thinking and I called the tech support for our
Intranet.  I have done work for the company, so I know quite a few of the
tech support folks.

Without mentioning anything about Comcast or the nature of the issue, I
asked if they had gotten an increase in the number of people getting a
freeze at the splash screen when logging on.  His first response was to ask
what operating system, because they don't support XP.  After saying that
the question wasn't an XP question, he said that the problem I mentioned
comes up very infrequently and the only thing that they have found to cause
it was spyware, Morpheus and one other piece of software that escapes me at
the moment.  He went on to say that now that I brought it up, they did get
two calls the day before on that issue and weren't able to resolve it.

So what we have is a ripple effect.  It is causing problems for other
companies because of calls to their tech support for problems that have
nothing to do with their software.  Aside from the additional burden placed
on these innocent tech support folks, that fact that the issues have been
going unresolved has had to cause bad will with their customer
base.  Needless to say, everyone in their company is now aware of the
Comcast software and anyone who calls in with a similar problem is
immediately asked if they have Comcast cable connections.

So the word should be spread beyond the Comcast customer base so that
others can shed the ill will and problems that Comcast is creating for
them.  I should also note that I have heard from customer of Cox
Communication and AT&T broadband services who experienced similar problems
and found Support.com and Broadjump installed on their systems. So, it
appears that the problem goes beyond Comcast.

I'll close with one bit of good news (if you can really call it
that).  Even after uninstalling the software people are bemoaning the fact
that Comcast still has possession of their browser and they are annoyed by
the message of Internet Explorer provided by Comcast and the spinning C
that has replaced the IE spinning globe.  The good news is that there is a
simple way to get rid of it.  This tip comes from the DSLReport.com
discussion list.

Close the browser
Go to Start > Run
Copy the line below, paste it in the Run box and hit Enter.

rundll32 iedkcs32.dll,Clear

Take care,
Art





***************************************************************
  Art Wolinsky                        awolinsky () oii org
  OII Technology Director         http://oii.org
  (609) 597-9481 ext
337
***************************************************************
I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes.
I will surely learn a great deal today.
***************************************************************




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