Big Comcast is watching you

Some years ago, when a family picketed a right-wing politician whose name has been lost to history, they soon received a Christmas card from the politician that included a photo of them at the protest.

What Comcast is doing now is no less chilling.

Recently a college student complained on his obscure blog about cable TV giant Comcast pumping its on-screen program guide full of ads. Almost immediately, he received e-mail from Comcast disguised as a friendly response.

Nobody had left a comment on his blog in months, but then he just gets e-mail from Comcast out of the blue?

A user of Twitter posted a comment about receiving a $183 cable bill from Comcast. A Comcast employee immediately responded with a Twitter comment of his own: "Can I help?"

It turns out Comcast uses special programs that lets it monitor blogs, Internet message boards, and social networking sites for any mention whatsoever of the company. If someone dares to criticize Comcast, the company responds to them with a sickly-sweet response.

There seems to be general agreement that this goes well beyond creepy. It actually stifles the free flow of information by reinforcing the fear that bloggers and Internet users are being watched by Comcast.

I've hardly ever seen anything good written about Comcast. In fact, out of over 200 companies, the American Customer Satisfaction Index ranks Comcast dead last in consumer opinions.

And don't bother to contact me, Comcast. From what I've seen of Comcast, it's actually good that my area has a direct descendant of the wretched Storer Cable instead. It was Comcast that provided the cable TV to my hotel room in Memphis during my vacation last year where the cable went out. Luckily, I had better things to do on my vacation than watch a cable system that didn't work.

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/technology/25comcast.html)