What Software Do Cable Installers Place on Your PC? 973
{e}N0S asks: "The cable guy came over to install a cable modem at my Dad's house. As I watched him do his stuff I noticed he was installing something called Broadjump Client Foundation. I know you don't need software for a cable modem to work so I asked if it was necessary. He said he had to do his list of things, and we had to sign that he did his list of things, otherwise he couldn't leave it with us to use. Since I can always remove the software, I agreed, but I noticed while he was flipping through the install, he was clicking 'agree' on every EULA that came up. Doing a search on Google for 'Broadjump Client Foundation' comes up with some pretty scary stuff as far as what it does, like: 'Builds a database of subscriber demographics and buying behaviors to help evolve and refine marketing efforts.' Now, how does this affect us? Neither myself or anyone in my family agreed to the software; the cable guy did. And is there anyway to get cable companies to stop doing this as I can imagine since the cable company is a monopoly in this town, that the percentage of people who still have this software on their computers is pretty high."
They tried. (Score:5, Funny)
I showed him to my Linux firewall, he was surprised about the prompt but figured it was just DOS (ha).
Put in the cd, realised it was not DOS, took the CD out, turned to me and said: "Well, I guess you know what you're doing." And left.
Offically my Cable Provider (Rogers) is not supporting Linux / Unix but if you have a technical issue just bug the Second Line support and 99% of the time you get the Unix guy who answers your questions.
That's tough (Score:5, Funny)
Now the installer was wrong. Very wrong. If you're gonna play by the rules then you should have read EVERY word of EVERY EULA and made the determination for each one. Since those are legal documents you would want to read carefully, perhaps consult with your lawyer on a few points. You could tie up that installer for a VERY long time. But for him to indicate that you accepted.....well, you might want to consult with your lawyer now.
Re:Nothing. (Score:5, Funny)
:)
--
Damn the Emperor!
Re:What scares me just a little bit... (Score:3, Funny)
Damn French. :)
Re:he installed (Score:4, Funny)
Next thing you know you'll have spy wear and you can't remove it.
Yeah, like this [dreamworks.com].
Just say "NO" (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Have a honeypot (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Have a honeypot (Score:2, Funny)
Re:That's great for Slashdot geeks... (Score:3, Funny)
Capitalism is a short-sighted system that puts profits before people, dollars before the environment.
Free your mind, read Z Mag [zmag.org]
Re:Have a honeypot (Score:5, Funny)
Good solution because all non-geeks have at least two or three old PCs just lying around the place for emergenices like this!
Re:They tried. (Score:2, Funny)
Some replies (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Have a honeypot (Score:5, Funny)
; )
-b
Kick him out of the house next time! (Score:2, Funny)
This would have prompted me to kick him out of the house and demand that they give me a self starter kit.
G.
Re:Have a honeypot (Score:5, Funny)
If the cable company is like my DSL support, then they wouldn't install it. Every time I have to call in problems with my DSL line, I have to lie and say I have a windows 98 pc. They usually then try to get me to do some basic networking troubleshooting. This can be hard to fake if you don't remember off the top of your head what the output is supposed to look like. If they catch me in the lie, I usually play the mad customer (which I usually am at this point) and demand they open a ticket for the issue.
One time... (Score:4, Funny)
I had three clearly visible beige boxes under the table at this point, which obviously had the monitors connected to them, the keyboards, mouses, etc, etc.
I tell him, "No, man, these are all PC's."
"Yeah, cool. Hmmm..."
*fiddles with one of them running Windows98, dials number on cellphone*
"Yeah, what's up, man. Um, I got these iMacs here, and I was wondering what I should do..."
I just about hit him over the head with my chair. After some pressuring I got to talk to the guy on the other end of the phone, who gave me everything I needed to know(IP, etc). When I gave the phone back I could hear him yelling at the "installer."
"Oh, you mean that they aren't iMacs. That's crazy. They look just like em."
What the FUCK...
Re:interesting (Score:2, Funny)
Re:They tried. (Score:2, Funny)
The best part was the look on his face when he saw the internet connection working right away without rebooting. (At the time they were supporting only win9x machines)
Easy Solution and Fun Too. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:he installed (Score:5, Funny)
If he wants to install his software, I point to my mandrake box and say "sure have at it." Gets 'em every time.
Re:That's great for Slashdot geeks... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Boss's Reaction to Lilo (Score:3, Funny)
Re:he installed (Score:4, Funny)
I thought he was going to rupture something.
Re:Have a honeypot (Score:2, Funny)
Re:he installed (Score:1, Funny)
Re:investigate your cable connection (Score:2, Funny)
One question: my computer is the purple kind. Will that change anything?
sorry, couldn't resist.
Re:Have a honeypot (Score:2, Funny)
However, I had installed win98 in a VMWare virtual machine and had that running full screen when he did the setup... I patiently watched him setup the virtual windows and when he was through, signed off on it. Then I took my seat back, dropped the windows virtual machine back to a window and closed it. He had this strange look on his face when he realized what happened.
Oh well, he did his job.
Re:Missing the point? (Score:2, Funny)
POKE 65495,0? You ARE old! (Score:3, Funny)
It wasn't all that noticeable with a single machine, but I once had a Beowulf cluster of these babies, and...
Re:Missing the point? (Score:3, Funny)
ME: Do you you block out-bound SMTP traffic
AOL: Sir AOL doesn't block Email
ME: Well I can send mail out through my personal ISP through the website, but can not when connected to the internet through AOL.
AOL: Are you sure the website is configured properly, we aren't responsable for websites
ME:yes the website is configured properly, I can send Email from my Linux computer to the site through My personal ISP, and I can send Email from this Windows machine to the site through My personal ISP, but I can not I can send Email from this Windows machine to the site through AOL.
AOL: AOL doesn't suppport Linux
ME: My boss just doesn't belive me when I told him that AOL probably blocks outbound email to external servers as a SPAM prevention measure. Do you or do you not block SMTP on port 25 from going to non-AOL mail servers?
AOL: Yes sir, that is one of our Email abuse prevention measures.