Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time • Hacker News Board

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#51

Post by laumars » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:08 PM UTC

Alupis wrote: post #19

bcx wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We (Olark) specifically decided not to implement the "read-ahead" or "sneak-peak" feature because we thought it was creepy and broke customer expectations. When you are typing a message to customer service as a customer you should have a chance to compose your thoughts, and should have an expectation of privacy in whatever you are writing before hitting enter.

I like that a lot. It is creepy, imho. There's been more than a few times where I was up late, on a chat support, and quite upset about something or other... and decided to re-write my message before hitting the "Send" button. Composing your thoughts is valuable...

I'm actually ok with this. It's a good way of getting more reliable subtext about a persons emotion. You'd gather that from someone stumbling their way through a real time voice conversation on the phone or in person - as well as the nuances in vocal tones and body language - but all that is lost in a text only interface. So this at least gives you an idea. eg are they ranting then delete it for a more composed message? That might signal that the person is really pissed off but actually open to working with the agent for a mutual resolution.

The point another poster made about secrets is a valid one but I'd argue that the kind of secrets you're likely to be pasting are the same ones the support operator would have access to anyway (payment details, address, order details, etc). But if you're really worried, other HN posters said it best when they commented about typing in a desktop text editor then paste your text into the chat window.

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#52

Post by jgroszko » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:08 PM UTC

Cacti wrote: post #37

dpkonofa wrote: post #29

I wish that it was more prevalent for people to just assume and know that any website, regardless of whether or not it has a chat function, has the ability to record what you're saying (read: typing). Everyone out there should act like everything they type into their web browser has the potential to be seen by, at the very least, the website they're typing it on and, at worst, by everyone online. If you really need t…

If the site is using SSL, there is a reasonable expectation that only the server will see that data, not the entire world.

Depends on what analytics and ad tracking are also running on that site

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#53

Post by lcfcjs2 » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:09 PM UTC

sbuttgereit wrote: post #10

I'm confused why this is news or surprising? At least for the audience here. I remember plugins for various IM clients would do the same thing in a chat window some decades ago. And I remember my days as a sysop in the good old single line dial up BBS days. You could watch users browse and type all the way back in the mid-80's and I'm sure this has existed about as long as multi-user computers have. If you're typing…

Because normally the client doesn't send anything with each keystroke, it would be enormously wasteful.

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#54

Post by Veen » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:09 PM UTC

Jerry2 wrote: post #47

Another thing people don't realize is that if your browser/extension prefills/autofills certain fields (say, name, email, address, etc), those things can be easily sent to the website even if you don't press the submit button. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/10/browser-a...

Yeah, that’s why Safari no longer autofills until you tell it to.

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#55

Post by intopieces » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:10 PM UTC

m-p-3 wrote: post #38

Looks like I'll be typing in a text app from now on and copy-paste my replies as I go.

Why? Isn't this a good feature? It means the person can be prepared for your question or comment ahead of time.

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#56

Post by r00fus » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:10 PM UTC

markovbot wrote: post #16

albertshin wrote: post #3

Reminds me of a similar debate my friends had when Google Wave first came out.

But Google Wave was up front about it, and both parties can see what each other is typing.

Not only that, but "talk" on Unix had that for 20+years before that.

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#57

Post by quietbritishjim » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:11 PM UTC

AnaniasAnanas wrote: post #15

ve55 wrote: post #8

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who allows their browser to run all the Javascript that companies want it to (of course, assuming they have a decent understanding of the web to begin with, which is a huge limiting factor). Reading what you type in real time isn't even as invasive as most companies go, when they commonly track your cursor movements, the size of your window, what extensions you have, make attemp…

Even with JS disabled you can still get a lot of these via CSS. Sadly none of these technologies were designed with privacy in mind.

CSS can send HTTP requests without JavaScript? How does that work?

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#58

Post by itronitron » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:11 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #18

I sometimes assume this is true and use it to my advantage by typing up a scathing rebuke venting frustration, only to delete and type a respectful query. I don't know for sure, but sometimes I get goodies in the form of gift cards and such and I don't know if this is an effort to placate me or not.

You could also paste in an ebook and then delete it a few seconds later...

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#59

Post by tombert » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:13 PM UTC

I can finally think of a practical reason to tell people to install Vim Anywhere! https://github.com/cknadler/vim-anywhere

I don't actually use that plugin but I have gotten the Vim keystrokes so ingrained in my brain that I've gotten in the habit of having a terminal open whenever I need to type into web forms...Now I finally have an excuse to not feel silly doing it.

Re: Customer Service Agents Can See What You're Typing in Real Time

#60

Post by jacurtis » Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 10:14 PM UTC

Cacti wrote: post #37

dpkonofa wrote: post #29

I wish that it was more prevalent for people to just assume and know that any website, regardless of whether or not it has a chat function, has the ability to record what you're saying (read: typing). Everyone out there should act like everything they type into their web browser has the potential to be seen by, at the very least, the website they're typing it on and, at worst, by everyone online. If you really need t…

If the site is using SSL, there is a reasonable expectation that only the server will see that data, not the entire world.

Well you aren't wrong. I mean technically speaking if there is an SSL certificate, than in fact you are directly connected to the server and no one is in between.

The difference is that if I own the server, I can see your information even though it was a direct server connection. You directly fed the information to me. That is what is happening in these scenerios.