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Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

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Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#341

Post by sethrin »

trappist wrote: post #107
Chriky wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a natural monopoly regulation /increases/ competition and freedom for the consumer. The BBC had an article about this a few years ago [0]. Basically the highly regulated countries had cheaper and faster internet. > Rick Karr, who made a PBS documentary in which he travelled to the UK to find out why prices were lower, says that the critical moment came when the British regulator Ofcom forced British Telecom to all…

It might be easier to convince me ISPs were a natural monopoly if they weren't also a legally protected monopoly where they are, and generally have plenty of competition where they aren't.

Do you personally have the ability to create large-scale broadband networks, using only the financial means available to the average citizen? An estimate by Goldman Sachs put the cost of nationwide Google Fiber at $140 billion. Personally, I'm not sure if I could come up with that kind of money, in a pinch.

Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#342

Post by ec109685 »

freneticfox wrote: post #298
w_t_payne wrote: post #127

I thought HTTPS was supposed to prevent this sort of man in the middle attack? (Or at least make it harder) -- and I thought that most websites used HTTPS these days... or am I misunderstanding? If they are able to do this, and are injecting JavaScript for something as low-return as online ads, then what is to prevent them from changing the news headlines on , or the stock ticker feed... How do we know that they aren…

The injection is currently for non-HTTPS only, but I can easily see this situation evolving for the worse as HTTPS becomes increasingly the default. What will happen is someone at Comcast will notice that their injections aren't happening often enough anymore due to HTTPS adoption. Someone at Comcast will suggest implementing a MITM TLS proxy service to get things working again. Someone else at Comcast will note that…

Chrome and all other browsers would quickly put an end to that.

Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#343

Post by pmorici »

philjohn wrote: post #323
pmorici wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cities grant franchise rights and determine rates charged for access to city poles and cable vaults.

Let's not sugar coat the language by referring to them as franchise rights, they're state-sanctioned monopolies.

Well, sure if they decide to only grant a single franchise which is what happens in a lot of cases. There is no reason they can't allow several competing operators in a given city though.

Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#344

Post by BrandoElFollito »

sokoloff wrote: post #130
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #66

When reading about Comcast I was always wondering why they have no competition when everyone who comments is complaining. I live in France and use Orange as my fibre provider. 1 Gbps/250 Mbps without constraints. I used to have Free which was great but did not offer fibre when fiber was installed. I switched to Orange in 5 min via a web page. I have another possibility (SFR) but they are despicable liars and for this…

> everyone who comments is complaining "Those who comment" are far from a random sampling of the user base. It's entirely possible that 95% of users are satisfied "enough" with the service and yet nearly 100% of comments to be strongly negative.

I know, this is the reason I added "who comment". This is not good enough, I know too, but in no comment have I seen praise of Comcast.

Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#345

Post by kasey_junk »

pvg wrote: post #332
nullymcnull wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not an "HN-ism". It is not proper to use quotation marks when paraphrasing. Doing so is explicitly attributing words to someone that they did not say. > not how writing or paraphrasing works anywhere else That's simply false. If you want to use Reddit et al as your standard reference on the use of language and punctuation, have at it. But you can't reasonably expect every other forum to use that lowest common…

That's simply false. No, it isn't. I'm saying what somebody else is saying, in their voice. This goes in quotes, because it's someone else's speech, even if it's my version of their speech. The fact that they didn't actually say it comes from context. Punctuation is not semantic markup. This doesn't come from reddit, it comes from, you know, the way people actually write. The fact that it requires repeated and length…

Writing style guides are a thing & a thing that have been around for a long time. All 3 of the style guides I’ve had reason to use (AP, MLA & CMS) all require that quoted material be direct quotes.

Now, I think that it’s a fair argument that a web forum needn’t have the same formality as other written word, but your assertion that “it’s not how anyone writes” is clearly untrue.

And just as a single data point, I expect when someone uses quotes even on the web that they are asserting a verbatim quote.

Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#346

Post by BrandoElFollito »

falcolas wrote: post #131
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #66

When reading about Comcast I was always wondering why they have no competition when everyone who comments is complaining. I live in France and use Orange as my fibre provider. 1 Gbps/250 Mbps without constraints. I used to have Free which was great but did not offer fibre when fiber was installed. I switched to Orange in 5 min via a web page. I have another possibility (SFR) but they are despicable liars and for this…

Not to disagree with any of the other points, but it's always worth remembering that any physical utility in the US has approximately 16x more land to cover than France. Not to mention the greater variety in climates (which do impact utilities). Some cities only have one existing fiber line even coming into them, usually owned by one of the local duopolies (typically phone, since they originally were required to offe…

The solution to this problem in France was to say "if you put some infrastructure to provide a service you have to share it with others, and get some costback". The costback is regulated.

The idea is to make it better for people, not corporations (which are not starving either)

Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#347

Post by justinjlynn »

lucio wrote: post #305
justinjlynn wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. Whoever thinks this is fine would probably also be okay with the telephone company injecting jingles into your phone conversations every 30 seconds.

Don't give them ideas... this comment was brought to you by by Inject-o-Matic Marketing services

Oh, how I do wish there were a WP:BEANS equivalent for reality. Thing is, you know it's already a thing somewhere.

Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#349

Post by amigoingtodie »

AndyMcConachie wrote: post #143
falcolas wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to disagree with any of the other points, but it's always worth remembering that any physical utility in the US has approximately 16x more land to cover than France. Not to mention the greater variety in climates (which do impact utilities). Some cities only have one existing fiber line even coming into them, usually owned by one of the local duopolies (typically phone, since they originally were required to offe…

Then why do Americans in large urban centers not have greater choice of ISPs? If it's all about physical distance, why is there still no competition in dense areas? I live in Washington DC, in the city, and I only really have one choice where I live, Comcast.

Back in my day, we rented Ricochet modems and shared the bandwidth between 4 users.

Re: Comcast is injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript into web pages

#350

Post by StudentStuff »

skinnymuch wrote: post #320
throwahey wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a reason they are doing this. After signing up for Xfinity I noticed that the modem we were leasing was broadcasting a public access point with no way to disable it. I purchased my own modem immediately. Then some time later they rolled out their mobile services, which you guessed it, rely’s on those open access points and Sprint as a fall-back. So now customers are paying monthly to host Xfinity mobile serv…

Xfinity/Comcast deal is with Verizon, not Sprint. The deal to allow Xfinity Mobile to use Verizon happened years ago. Doesn't change much or any reasoning, but VeriOn is a lot better in terms of service area [and strength] vs Sprint.

Verizon has poor service in many places, eg Hawaii or when roaming up near the Canadian border. They still haven't figured out how to support international roaming reliably, half my family was w/o service for our few hours in Canada. Service in SoCal seems to be one of their last strongholds, but even then voice calls sound like a robot.
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