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

gizmodo.com

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

#71

Post by munk-a »

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.

I disagree, assuming there are no other security holes (browser extensions, whatnot) then the server will initially receive it, but they can then forward that data to any third party they wish.

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

#72

Post by lolc »

laumars wrote: post #51
Alupis wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 messa…

It's ok if both parties know what's going on. If visitors are left with the expectation that a message becomes visible on the other end when they send it then it is not ok at all.

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

#73

Post by baroffoos »

modernerd wrote: post #66

It's very rare for a live chat employee to handle only one request. Look at how popular chat apps present multiple requests within the same UI and imagine dealing with these without live streamed text: HappyFox: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/3fe2e4f896499b131... Olark: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/d53ec47e6affe26a5... LiveChat: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/26c01334ea7335635...…

I think its perfectly fine for them to see it live but users should be aware of it. The current behavior that everyone knows is the other end doesn't see what you type until you send it.

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

#74

Post by MatekCopatek »

Another thing to add to my list of things that creep me out right after typing notifications I can't opt out of and Facebook supposedly storing unsent posts.

Maybe a simple blocker for this could be the next must-have extension/browser functionality. Something that doesn't send your input events until you press shift+enter.

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

#75

Post by modernerd »

baroffoos wrote: post #73
modernerd wrote: post #66

It's very rare for a live chat employee to handle only one request. Look at how popular chat apps present multiple requests within the same UI and imagine dealing with these without live streamed text: HappyFox: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/3fe2e4f896499b131... Olark: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/d53ec47e6affe26a5... LiveChat: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/26c01334ea7335635...…

I think its perfectly fine for them to see it live but users should be aware of it. The current behavior that everyone knows is the other end doesn't see what you type until you send it.

I think this would only slow chat sessions down.

If you make me feel self-conscious about what I'm typing, I'm going to consider each word rather than type then correct/revise and send.

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

#76

Post by koolba »

modernerd wrote: post #66

It's very rare for a live chat employee to handle only one request. Look at how popular chat apps present multiple requests within the same UI and imagine dealing with these without live streamed text: HappyFox: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/3fe2e4f896499b131... Olark: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/d53ec47e6affe26a5... LiveChat: https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/26c01334ea7335635...…

“I broke^W^WIt broke on it’s own.”

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

#77

Post by mvexel »

Perhaps it's time for more granular Javascript blocking. Since forever it's been 'Enable Javascript yes / no'. This makes no real world sense to me anymore (if it ever did). Could there be an end-user friendly way to tell a browser to block Javascript that transmits your 'pre-submit' activity on a web site without breaking the site?

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

#78

Post by bayindirh »

modernerd wrote: post #75
baroffoos wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think its perfectly fine for them to see it live but users should be aware of it. The current behavior that everyone knows is the other end doesn't see what you type until you send it.

I think this would only slow chat sessions down. If you make me feel self-conscious about what I'm typing, I'm going to consider each word rather than type then correct/revise and send.

On the contrary, it won’t change anything for me, because I always form the whole sentence in my mind before writing into a chat or text box (like this comment).

So, it seems there are different types of writers. That’s a small moment of enlightenment for me. :)

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

#80

Post by mrspeaker »

In 2005 during the birth of "ajax" I got paid ($100 or something: it was great when I was a youngster!) to write an article warning of the spooky dangers of xmlhttprequest - keylogging everything you type. http://www.devx.com/webdev/Article/28861

There was a demo (dead now - I'll fix it) that was a text adventure, that keylogged. And it was interesting to see typos and changes of wording. It did provide some insight that wasn't always apparent in the final submitted text commands.

Even though in 2005 it was known you could do this (long before ajax), still today I'm a little taken-aback about being keylogged on a random website: despite having written a bloody article about it 15 years ago!

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