“Lauren Weinstein, the co-founder of a net neutrality advocacy group called People for Internet Responsibility (PFIR), has published an example of one of the notices that Rogers has begun embedding in web pages. The notice informs users when they are close to reaching their monthly bandwidth cap. According to Weinstein, Rogers is using software created by in-browser marketing firm PerfTech, which can easily be used for more odious endeavors. Rogers uses the software to modify web pages as they are being transmitted, adding JavaScript code that causes the notice to display.“While Rogers’ current planned use for this Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and modification system (reportedly manufactured by ‘In-Browser Marketing’ firm ‘PerfTech’) is for account status messages, it’s obvious that commercial ISP content and ads (beyond the ISP logos already displayed) would be trivial to introduce through this mechanism,” wrote Weinstein.”
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Using a Bluetooth phone with Linux @ Ars Technica
- AMD RS780 chipset to launch in January @ DigiTimes
- Dell: The New Apple @ CoolTechZone
- Humor: Google Scares Wireless Industry @ CoolTechZone
- Puppy Linux 3.01 Review @ OSWeekly
- What Windows 7 Needs to Be Successful @ OSWeekly
- What’s Wrong With Apple’s Mac Sales @ OSWeekly
- KINO Developers Impress With Unconventional UI @ MadPenguin
- Nokia N95 8GB @ Hardware Zone
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Review @ Digital Trends
- Ars Technica 2007 hardware gift guide
Funny, I don’t remember ordering that Javascript
Rogers, a Canadian ISP, is testing out a little something from PerfTech; who are specialists at web marketing. Currently Rogers is injecting Javascript directly into their users browser as a way to display nastygrams about account usage. As Ars Technica points out, this is an incredibly small step away from delivering ads straight to you, or removing content they don’t want making it to you. The Canadian version of the DMCA may have been withdrawn earlier this week, but we are still innovating ways to degrade end user’s experience.