Comments on: Can Comcast Snoop HomeNets using LinkSys Gateway?

By: jbelkin

jbelkin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Comcast has a phone service but is seriously looking into moving it into VoIP so you could be right about Vonnage though it is mostly geared towards people who turn on wifi/cable modem so the neighborhood can use the bandwidth (as some people do with their cable modem service) … that’s what they are most afraid of – “mini ISP’s” popping up. But of course, lawyers like to write the broadest language on their side and the narrowest language when on the other side.

By: Julian Bond

Julian Bond — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

These boxes are more or less the same as the WRT54G, so they run Linux, right? So is the snooping software open source? So where is the source?

Presumably they’ll use SNMP for this. Since the SNMP implementation in a standard WRT54G is fairly broken, I wouldn’t bank on it working. I have this feeling that turning off logging will probably disable their ability to view the data. And changing the admin password ought to also limit it.

Which brings up the next issue. If they hard code a password to access these “features” how long before it gets hacked? Aren’t we always told to properly secure the WiFi AP?

Which all leads me to think that the only way they could do this is to have a custom Linux distro with closed source elements installed and to disable any possibility of firmware upgrades. I can’t see this happening. Now if this was a story about Motorola cable modem/routers, that might be a different case.

By: Om

Om — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

hmmm. justin you bring up interesting points. can you expand on your comment about motorola cable/modem routers. is this a big problem there as well?

By: Telecom Banker

Telecom Banker — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In a meeting about six months ago, the CEO of a rural LEC dismissed Vonage’s threat because of their (and other LECs and cable companies) could easily disrupt their service by turning off the SNMP protocol. I am skeptical that the FCC would allow that to happen, but you never know. This is the first I’ve seen any reference to it in the media (is that what you want to be part of?). The big threat to Vonage, in my opinion, is that they will have trouble competing against the cable companies that will be offering similar services. Even if you hate the cable company and doubt their service reliablity, will people trust them more than Vonage? I would say yes.

By: Glenn Fleishman

Glenn Fleishman — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Re: Telecom Banker: SNMP isn’t used by Vonage or VOIP. What the telcos/cable companies could do is disable SIP protocol traffic from specific ports or filter it on all ports. This is an actual threat, but I have to believe that if they try to do it, Congress and the FCC will drop their weight on them because both bodies appear to be committed to allowing VOIP to flourish.

By: dave

dave — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

keep us posted. one question to which i hope my assumptive answer is correct… will they only be able to do this stuff on leased equipment, or would they have the same capability if i buy this product from a retailer and set it up myself?

By: Telecom Banker

Telecom Banker — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Glenn,

Thanks for the clarification. For a banker, it’s all the same.

By: me

me — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hmm, that sucks. I hope they don’t try to force these “cablehome” compliant modems on everyone, or I guess I’ll have to look around for a new provider. I don’t need anyone snooping my network. Just not right…

fp?

By: Tesla

Tesla — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I am just going to have to proxy my network before the gateway. bfd, comcast can go to great legnths to ensure you dont have multiple comps on YOUR line

Anyome remember when companys such as TCI used to complain about the use of splitters for tvs and attempted to charge people for every tv in the house

By: benjy

benjy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Fucking fascists.

By: Frederic Jean

Frederic Jean — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I was considering moving to Comcast for internet access. I have definitively changed my mind.

I guess that I will stick with Sprint Broadband a bit longer.

By: Dennis Bottaro

Dennis Bottaro — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wow. What is next’ Cars with black boxes that record my driving… How about a refrigerator that Knows what brand milk I buy? C’mon who world allow that sort of security breach on their home network! Not I! Dare I say big brother Comcast is making it’s own bed as Far as tech-savvy users go.

By: wad

wad — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This isn’t a conspiracy and shouldn’t be a big surprise. The CableHome specifications have been around for over two years, and those pecs were designed by the Cable operators to be what they were going to deploy.

They figure that they can sell it to people who don’t know any better (i.e. 80% of the public, who might actually benefit from the remote network troubleshooting it provides). The other 20% will just place their own gateway right after the Comcast one.

More obnoxious practices are already in place: port blocking, and termination for
an arbitrary “overuse”.

By: Ward Dorrity

Ward Dorrity — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Very interesting. Is it the case that the user has no ability to administer the Linksys piece? If not, then there would of course be no way for the user to disable remote administration on the Linksys router.

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Guess I’m going to have to buy a D-Link…

By: Gnar

Gnar — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

First the unchangeable admin l/p, now this.. wow. Cisco is really on a roll. Cisco just dropped to unber 2 on S*list.