Re: NebuAd Forges Packets, Violates Net Standards | Threat Level from Wired.com

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Bob Frankston [bob37-2 () bobf frankston com]
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 10:23 AM
To: David Farber; 'ip'
Subject: RE: [IP] NebuAd Forges Packets, Violates Net Standards | Threat Level from Wired.com

After listening to a talk form the President of Excite some years ago positing the ability to target ads by observing 
behavior I posited a new banner ad: The Morning After Pill – we know you need it.

I don’t think of this as an NN issue – this is a straightforward privacy issue.

Why stop with looking at web pages – think of how much more information you can get by scanning email messages. Why 
shouldn’t UPS and FedEx make money on the side by selling information about the packages people get – even better if 
they can employ technologies that scan the contents without having actually open the letters.

Given people’s expectation of privacy do the carriers have liability? This goes far beyond disclosing lists of phone 
numbers.

How sociopathic do you have to be to not recognize boundaries? But then how much of a leap is it from Amazon tracking 
my preferences to a carrier having a fiduciary responsibility to monetize their monopoly control over my ability to 
communicate?


From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 07:26
To: ip
Subject: [IP] NebuAd Forges Packets, Violates Net Standards | Threat Level from Wired.com


http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/nebuad-forges-g.html

Report: NebuAd Forges Packets, Violates Net Standards
By Ryan Singel [cid:image002.jpg@01C8D2BE.A4F70350] <mailto:ryan () ryansingel net> June 18, 2008 | 5:44:16 
PMCategories: Network Neutrality<http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/network_neutrality/index.html>

An online advertising firm called NebuAd that pays ISPs to let it eavesdrop on web users doesn't just passively record 
traffic, but actively injects fake packets into responses from other websites in order to deliver cookies to users, 
according to a technical report released by the advocacy groups Free Press and Public Knowledge on Wednesday.
The report from the open net advocacy groups describes the system as a "browser hijack," comparing it with two classic 
hacker attacks.
NebuAd<http://www.nebuad.com/> first drew widespread attention after Charter Communications, the nation's fourth 
largest ISP, announced it would try out the company's 
technology<http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/charter-to-inse.html>, promising that users would love having more 
targeted ads served to them. That announcement brought unwanted media and congressional attention to NebuAd, which had 
already installed monitoring boxes inside the network of at least one smaller ISP, 
WOW<http://www1.wowway.com/home/index.aspx>.
NebuAd has conceded that its boxes peer deep into internet packets to pull out URLs and search terms in order to 
classify each user's interests. That profile is then used deliver tailored ads on various partner websites.

<sni>

________________________________
Archives<http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now> [https://www.listbox.com/images/feed-icon-10x10.jpg] 
<http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/>

[https://www.listbox.com/images/listbox-logo-small.jpg]<http://www.listbox.com>





-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com