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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

#161

Post by Salesdude »

nneonneo wrote: post #50

On a recent customer service call, I bid the agent goodbye but did not hang up (deliberately - I wanted to see if they would terminate the call). The rep held the call open for a good 2-3 minutes even though there was nothing from my end except some typing. I’m fairly sure I heard some small sounds from their end so they didn’t just switch to another line. I’m not usually paranoid - but moments like this remind me to…

Or maybe the agent didn't want to take the next call in his queue and wanted to relax a bit.

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

#162

Post by lolc »

laumars wrote: post #114
lolc wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't sneakily access other people's draft thoughts without very explicitly asking for permission. The eavesdroppers are not reciprocating and sharing their typing either. They're not only creating an asymmetry: they're actively hiding it!

It's not the sort of environment you want asymmetry. You want the customer services to be infallible - and by "you" I don't just mean company execs but also us customers who want to feel like we've been treated appropriately. Anyone who's ever done a stint on 1st line tech support will understand just how much of a thankless job it is. If this helps them to serve me better then I welcome it. I think the real complain…

Thanks for the explanation and perspective. I still don't see how this justifies the deception.

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

#163

Post by [deleted] »

lolc wrote: post #162
laumars wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the sort of environment you want asymmetry. You want the customer services to be infallible - and by "you" I don't just mean company execs but also us customers who want to feel like we've been treated appropriately. Anyone who's ever done a stint on 1st line tech support will understand just how much of a thankless job it is. If this helps them to serve me better then I welcome it. I think the real complain…

Thanks for the explanation and perspective. I still don't see how this justifies the deception.

[deleted]

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

#164

Post by craftyguy »

mooman219 wrote: post #5

At work, the assumption is that every non-corp web site has a key logger built in. A corp extension monitors (key logs) all input on non-corp sites, checking if any credentials are accidentally typed. If they are, you're notified immediately on the last key press and have to change your credentials within 7 days of the incident. I think this is a reasonable idea for security, and helps prevent some phishing schemes.

> checking if any credentials are accidentally typed.

Doesn't that require maintaining a database of all credentials?

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

#165

Post by craftyguy »

AnaniasAnanas wrote: post #65
robin_reala wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? There are a couple of CSS privacy leaks, but the vast majority of privacy leaks are through JS.

Not sure what you are saying no to. I did not say anything that contradicts your statement.

> Even with JS disabled you can still get a lot of these via CSS.

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

#166

Post by craftyguy »

chrischen wrote: post #146
purple_ducks wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "why didn't we do this earlier?" Because it's invasive. The user consents to sending you information when they hit Send(explicit). They can remove any incorrect or unrelated information from the text box before they do so. Especially if they paste in to the text box and inadvertently paste the wrong thing(be that sensitive info or similar).

I use a chat service that has this feature on by default (for real-time chat customer support, not for general messaging), and never in the history of its usage has a person complained about it. For every 10,000 people that may not have an issue with it, 1 may have an issue about it, and with these numbers it's really up to that 1 person to guard their privacy better (disable JS, never step outside their house, etc)…

> For every 10,000 people that may not have an issue with it, 1 may have an issue about it,

How many of those 10k people even know this is happening? I suspect, given the other comments here and the fact that this article exists, that it's a very small number. Try informing all 10k people first, then count how many 'may not have an issue' with it.

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

#167

Post by powercf »

lolc wrote: post #84
powercf wrote: post #17

I don't have any problem with this. It highlights a lack of user education, if they expect their typed input to a website to be private. It reminds me of the "talk" (and ytalk, ntalk) programs, where all parties can see in real-time what the others are typing. It's a cool technology that, unfortunately, is not used on the web.

> It highlights a lack of user education Education in what? That they shouldn't trust companies because they eavesdrop on them? Please don't blame deceitful practices on the victims. > if they expect their typed input to a website to be private. Most chat apps work that way. Others only see what you typed once you send it. Just because the now obscure `talk` worked differently is no excuse. The deception starts where…

> Education in what?

Education in how the web works. That typing something into a text field, or moving the mouse, or any interactions with a website can be read on the other side. Many users expect this behaviour when they use, for example, Google search or Google Translate. If users expect their text to be private in one context, but shared in another, then there is clearly a lack of understanding of how the web works.

> Please don't blame deceitful practices on the victims.

I didn't blame anyone for anything. It's not a priori deceitful. Presumably some of the motivation is to enable faster responses to client queries.

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

#168

Post by ct0 »

baroffoos wrote: post #88
ct0 wrote: post #11

This is nothing new. When i worked for a shady video game repair company in the early 2000's, the (male) boss would play 3 (female) customer service roles and know exactly what they were typing even back in the early days before facebook.

I think customer support people who have foreign names get their names changed to more local sounding names while doing support because it makes customers feel better.

This employer was in the US talking to people in the US. He found that men are more likely to spend money/easier to work with when the customer service rep has a female name.

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

#169

Post by AnaniasAnanas »

craftyguy wrote: post #165
AnaniasAnanas wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you are saying no to. I did not say anything that contradicts your statement.

> Even with JS disabled you can still get a lot of these via CSS.

Yes? I don't understand what the issue is.

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

#170

Post by somebodythere »

chrischen wrote: post #144
somebodythere wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not even true. This behaviour is not obvious at all. No consumer messaging application allows you to see what the other person is typing before they have sent it.

This is quite different from a consumer messaging application. It's a website's customer support chat.

But the people using it would be consumers, and they would be familiar with the way consumer messaging applications work. So it would not be obvious to most people that the person on the other end can see what they're writing.
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