Comcast tends to not have the best record when it comes to customer service. The company was named the "Worst Company in America" by the Consumerist. If that is not enough evidence, we covered how excruciating it is to cancel service with them. In its defense, Comcast's CEO said that "we don't want to be hated." The latest news regarding Comcast may not be good PR for them.
According to Ars Technica, Comcast has begun serving ads to devices connected to Xfinity spots that let users know they are connected to a hotspot. The ads also encourage users to download Xfinity apps while they browse. Charlie Douglas, a spokesman for Comcast, stated that "We think it's a courtesy, and it helps address some concerns that people might not be absolutely sure they're on a hotspot from Comcast".
Ryan Singel, a cofounder of Contextly, was reading Mediagazer online, when he spotted the ads. He even took screen shots of the ads and of the JavaScript code that ran. Gabe Rivera, the owner of Mediagazer, is not too happy about Comcast's ads. He notes that it is being done in a very sneaky fashion.
They may have a good point. Browsers cannot tell the difference between malicious and good code, especially with JavaScript. If Comcast is inserting JavaScript, it opens up vulnerabilities in a browser that could be exploited. One wonders if Comcast truly thought about the implications of alerting their users that they are on a hotspot via this method, though less tech savvy customers may not realize what is going on.
Source: Ars Technica
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