Charter Watcher

If you are a Charter customer and are concerned about your privacy being violated, there are a number of steps you can take. Some are more complicated than others, but all of these will help in some way.

Contact Charter directly

Calling Charter technical support will only get you redirected to Charter’s official “opt-out” page, which as explained here will not actually protect your privacy. You can, however, ask to speak to someone regarding government relations or privacy and occasionally get transferred. If all else fails, you can contact me and I will give you the direct numbers to individuals who can take your complaints (I won’t list them here, as Charter has asked me not to because they don’t have the staff to handle so many incoming calls from all of their unhappy customers). Finally, you can write a letter to Charter and send it the “Corporate Communications” address listed here to guarantee that your complaint goes on record.

Contact your elected representatives

Several congressmen have already expressed an interest in Charter’s program, but more pressure is needed. Write or call your representatives and ask them to investigate the legality of Charter’s advertising program. You can find your elected Representative by clicking here and your Senators here. If you live in a Charter-dominated market, consider contacting your mayor, city council, and state Attorney General as well.

File a BBB complaint

Charter Communications is a BBB accredited company, which means that complaints filed through the BBB against Charter will have some bearing on their status and record. Contacting the BBB is a good way to get in touch with someone at Charter who will actually take and process your concerns, unlike first-line technical support. You can submit a complaint here.

File a complaint with the FCC

The FCC will take complaints against communications companies, Charter included, on broad grounds. A few complaints will mean absolutely nothing, but if the FCC receives privacy concerns from enough Charter customers they just might write a letter politely asking Charter to stop wiretapping their customers. It’s a long shot, but still worth it. The complaint form is located here.

File a complaint with the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission is much like the FCC in that they very rarely accomplish anything of note on behalf of the American people. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to fill out their complaint form here in case they suffer from a sudden bout of accountability.

Change internet providers

The fastest way to end any anti-customer policy is to take your money to a competitor. If broadband is available from AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, or any other provider, consider switching. When you call Charter to cancel, tell them why you’re leaving.

Poison your clickstream to confuse Charter’s system

This is a more advanced technique which actually injects large quantities of random http data into your web-surfing profile via a script. It requires a Linux computer and some technical knowledge, but can go a long way in confusing Charter’s monitoring system, thus destroying their ability to effectively build an interest profile for your household. The script is freely available here. If anyone has any suggestions to improve upon it, or to make a similar Windows product available, please contact me.