Comcast is Still “Code Injecting” Into the Websites You Visit

I can’t believe that this is happening.  Apparently, Comcast is able to inject hundreds of lines of code into any webpage that you visit, if they think you need a hardware upgrade.  And even if you don’t think you need an upgrade, they say you do.  Huh?  The user “bham3dman” recently took to the company’s forums to complain about this practice. Which is what exactly?  Running its own code on web pages customers visit in order to prompt them with special Comcast messages.   bham3dman posted this statement on the company’s official forum:

“Comcast began injecting 400+ lines of JavaScript code into pages I requested on the internet so that when the browser renders the web page, the JavaScript generates a pop up trying to up-sell me a new modem. When you call the number in the popup, they’re quick to tell you that you need a new modem, which in my case is not true. I later verified with level-2 support that my modem is perfectly fine and I don’t need to upgrade.”

He also notes that he took the time to speak with seven different company supervisors, and none of them could turn it off.  Can anyone? I mean, the big question I have is why is this even a thing?  He goes on to say:

“Comcast has my phone office number, my cell for texts, my email, and my home address, yet they choose to molest my requested web pages by injecting hundreds of lines of code. This is not like targeted advertisements when I visit websites with ads (which is perfectly acceptable), this instead is a direct manipulation of the original source code of the website.This is completely unacceptable to me and what’s worse is that Comcast provides no option to opt out of this horrific practice.”

I would like to echo the word “horrific”.  I mean, can you imagine?  Well, the answer is that yes, we can imagine because it’s happening.  ISP’s have been injecting code into websites since 2012.  Maybe sooner.  In fact, earlier this year, Comcast was given grief for using this practice to warn users against piracy.   Sometimes I get a notification from my ISP.  Maybe it’s a quiz or survey or something.  I always wondered how they were able to do it, but I guess this is how.  I assumed it was some kind of spam, but this might be scarier, actually.

Comcast uses this kind of “code informing” to their customers when they need a new modem.  I mean, especially if you don’t actually need the new modem. Is it ok if they did need a new modem?  I don’t think so.  In theory, you could call your customers and let them know about their required upgrade. To me, this is a sketchy practice in general.  This is exploitation, isn’t it?  Comcast is saying that this isn’t what they do, unofficially.  But the proof is in the pudding isn’t it? Also, this is something that is not being talked about a lot.  It’s not in the news anywhere, and yet this is potentially a really big deal.