Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) appears to be putting JavaScript code into the websites that are visited by its customers. This isn’t the first time that this has happened, and it seems that it’s already happening again – only this time, Comcast isn’t taking the blame for it. It’s blaming the user.
Users have received an irritating amount of pop-ups telling them to upgrade to a new modem, but according to Comcast’s vice president of policy and standards, Jason Livingood, this code insertion is actually allowable by the Comcast white paper called “Comcast’s Web Notification System Design.” What users are calling unacceptable ads, the white paper legitimizes as a mere friendly reminder.
According to Livingood, the pop-ups aren’t meant to be considered ads. They are simply notifications telling users their modems were “either end of life (EOL) or […] about to get a speed upgrade that the model will be unable to deliver.” That means these pop-ups, so claimed by Comcast, are only notifying users that their modems are faulty or out of date and are not telling them they have to upgrade.
Users, however, claim this isn’t true. They’ve been told by the Comcast support team that there was nothing wrong with their modems.
This is where Comcast has placed the blame on the users. Livingood said that emails are first sent to the users to notify them about their modems and that “the notice is typically sent after a customer ignores several emails. Perhaps some of those ended up in [the users’] spam folder?” The pop-ups are unavoidable if the user doesn’t take heed of the emails.
When it comes down to it, none of that even makes sense. How can a pop-up be unavoidable? Shouldn’t the trigger from the email be able to be turned off? Why are the emails even being sent if the users have been told their modems are fine?
Livingood has provided no answers to these questions. The users aren’t being helped by the pop-ups. If anything, it hurts them, because it trains users to ignore pop-ups, which any hacker could then use to their advantage.
Featured Image: twitter
