Creepy Time Warner Cable Billing Practice

MrColin

Platinum Member
May 21, 2003
2,403
3
81
A few months ago I discontinued my cable internet service with TWC. It was wildly overpriced and the autobilled amount has been inching up at about 700% the rate of inflation over the years for the bottom tier service.

So, I've been connecting through my neighbor's wifi with her permission and helping her with the bill. She does not know my email address. I have been receiving emails from TWC
Subject: Your Time Warner Cable bill is due today

It has my neighbor's name at the top of the auto-generated billing email but it is being sent to my email address.

Super effing creepy...
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
Weird... so they are associating your MAC/her router/your old account email.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,917
2,157
126
The NSA.

That is all.

Yep, government surveillance agencies like to give access of secretly gathered data to billing departments of public companies. It generates a nice side-income for them :D
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,842
4,785
146
A few months ago I discontinued my cable internet service with TWC. It was wildly overpriced and the autobilled amount has been inching up at about 700% the rate of inflation over the years for the bottom tier service.

So, I've been connecting through my neighbor's wifi with her permission and helping her with the bill. She does not know my email address. I have been receiving emails from TWC
Subject: Your Time Warner Cable bill is due today

It has my neighbor's name at the top of the auto-generated billing email but it is being sent to my email address.

Super effing creepy...

Maybe she is just being responsible and is fwding the bill to you indicating it's time to pay? Maybe she set it up on the TWC website to send the invoice to both you and her.

Just a thought instead of busting out the tinfoil hat so quickly :D
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,541
8,822
126
You filthy pirate. If you look at the TOS(Yes, the 400 page printed stack). You'll likely find that sharing/subleasing a connection is verboten. Only criminals share.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,842
4,785
146
You filthy pirate. If you look at the TOS(Yes, the 400 page printed stack). You'll likely find that sharing/subleasing a connection is verboten. Only criminals share.

Is there really a Terms of Service that says whom you can and can't share you?

One would presume that it is okay to share via your router with anyone else in the house (dependents, children, etc...). So what if a friend lives with you. Can you share with him?
 

ImpulsE69

Lifer
Jan 8, 2010
14,946
1,077
126
Is there really a Terms of Service that says whom you can and can't share you?

One would presume that it is okay to share via your router with anyone else in the house (dependents, children, etc...). So what if a friend lives with you. Can you share with him?

You bet there is when it is a different physical address.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,541
8,822
126
Is there really a Terms of Service that says whom you can and can't share you?

One would presume that it is okay to share via your router with anyone else in the house (dependents, children, etc...). So what if a friend lives with you. Can you share with him?

Since I'm such a nice guy(I'm actually an asshole), I researched the Byzantine TOS. These parts look relevent, but I'm sure there's other subsections to fuck you harder. Afterall, the ceo has to make a boat payment, and the shareholders *must* be provided "value". In case you're interested, shareholder "value" is inversely proportional to customer "value".

d) Personal, Non-commercial Use Only. The Services and Software are for your reasonable personal, non-commercial use only. You may not examine or manipulate the Software code. You may not share our in-home Services or related Software with any person who is not a member or guest of your household or to persons outside your premises. You may not enable any person who is not a member of your household to access our out-of-home Services or related Software (for example, by providing them with your TWC user name and password).

(e) Unauthorized Access. You will take reasonable precautions to prevent others from gaining unauthorized access to the Services. For example, if you establish a user name and password with us that enable you to access our out-of-home Services, you will not provide that user name and password to any person other than the members of your household. If you do, we reserve the right to revoke your access credentials or terminate the Services you receive.

(f) Theft of Service. If you knowingly access Services that you have not paid for, enable others to access Services that they have not paid for, or damage or alter our Equipment (or use Customer-Owned Equipment) in order to do so, you will have breached this Agreement and possibly subjected yourself to statutory damages, fines or criminal charges. Only TWC may service Customer Use Equipment. You will not allow anyone else to open, take apart or modify Customer Use Equipment.

http://help.twcable.com/twc_sub_agreement.html#

ctrl f is your friend if you want to find it yourself.
 
Feb 4, 2009
35,671
17,173
136
Is there really a Terms of Service that says whom you can and can't share you?

One would presume that it is okay to share via your router with anyone else in the house (dependents, children, etc...). So what if a friend lives with you. Can you share with him?

Honestly every T&C's from any big company are all terms are non negotiable and can change at any time without notice.
 
Nov 8, 2012
20,842
4,785
146
Since I'm such a nice guy(I'm actually an asshole), I researched the Byzantine TOS. These parts look relevent, but I'm sure there's other subsections to fuck you harder. Afterall, the ceo has to make a boat payment, and the shareholders *must* be provided "value". In case you're interested, shareholder "value" is inversely proportional to customer "value".



http://help.twcable.com/twc_sub_agreement.html#

ctrl f is your friend if you want to find it yourself.

Ok, so fairly straight forward. No one outside of your residence.

I thought it would be more complicated on Specifically whom... But Friends/Family living in the residence leaves it pretty wide open for anyone as long as they reside in the same residence.
 

Ham n' Eggs

Member
Sep 22, 2015
181
0
0
my guess: cookies or browser fingerprinting tracking across thousands of websites and services. Some service somewhere has a deal with the trackers and your email address goes to the trackers. Internet provider gets info from trackers (why I don't know).

One possible way.
Therefore, block javascript, install a cookie burner, uninstall flash, run adblock & ghostery, spoof your browser (addon).
 

MrColin

Platinum Member
May 21, 2003
2,403
3
81
Since I'm such a nice guy(I'm actually an asshole), I researched the Byzantine TOS. These parts look relevent, but I'm sure there's other subsections to fuck you harder. Afterall, the ceo has to make a boat payment, and the shareholders *must* be provided "value". In case you're interested, shareholder "value" is inversely proportional to customer "value".

http://help.twcable.com/twc_sub_agreement.html#

ctrl f is your friend if you want to find it yourself.

Thanks for looking that up. I sure wasn't going to bother, which I guess opens me up to thirty some years of fending off lifers in the prison shower under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

my guess: cookies or browser fingerprinting tracking across thousands of websites and services. Some service somewhere has a deal with the trackers and your email address goes to the trackers. Internet provider gets info from trackers (why I don't know).

One possible way.
Therefore, block javascript, install a cookie burner, uninstall flash, run adblock & ghostery, spoof your browser (addon).

I have adblock and ghostery on all my browsers, my iphone, and my other network aware apps have no such safeguards, I'm not going to try and secure against this. They aren't sending me a bill, they are sending her bill to me. I've asked her about this and she thinks its weird too. Also, I'm behind my own NAT router that connects to her TWC supplied router.
 
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MrColin

Platinum Member
May 21, 2003
2,403
3
81
Ok, so fairly straight forward. No one outside of your residence.

I thought it would be more complicated on Specifically whom... But Friends/Family living in the residence leaves it pretty wide open for anyone as long as they reside in the same residence.

We share a mailbox so same physical address and there is a door in the back of one of my closets that opens into her bathroom. TWC doesn't ask how many people/devices you have connecting, you could be one person living alone or a flop house with 12 roommates. One person gets billed and as long as the bill is paid they keep your service on (and apparently sniff the crap out of your traffic).
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
We share a mailbox so same physical address and there is a door in the back of one of my closets that opens into her bathroom. TWC doesn't ask how many people/devices you have connecting, you could be one person living alone or a flop house with 12 roommates. One person gets billed and as long as the bill is paid they keep your service on (and apparently sniff the crap out of your traffic).

Ok, so honestly, how many times have you accidentally opened that door when she's been in the tub/shower?
 

Ken M

Junior Member
Dec 1, 2015
13
0
0
Want privacy? Don't steal your neighbor's wifi. Seems pretty simple to me.
 

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
126
Want privacy? Don't steal your neighbor's wifi. Seems pretty simple to me.

Q6qTxi1hSzi8szbHQAmo_giphy.gif
 

Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
2,108
101
91
Yep, government surveillance agencies public companies like to give access of build consumer profiles from secretly gathered any data they can get their grubby little hands on to billing departments of public companies. It generates a nice side-income for them :D
FTFY - and people make fun of me for being more concerned about Google and its ilk than the NSA.:rolleyes:/:cool:

E.g.:
my guess: cookies or browser fingerprinting tracking across thousands of websites and services. Some service somewhere has a deal with the trackers and your email address goes to the trackers. Internet provider gets info from trackers (why I don't know).
See above.:D

Want privacy? Don't steal your neighbor's wifi.
Did you actually read the OP?:colbert:
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,466
3,067
121
Since I'm such a nice guy(I'm actually an asshole), I researched the Byzantine TOS. These parts look relevent, but I'm sure there's other subsections to fuck you harder. Afterall, the ceo has to make a boat payment, and the shareholders *must* be provided "value". In case you're interested, shareholder "value" is inversely proportional to customer "value".



http://help.twcable.com/twc_sub_agreement.html#

ctrl f is your friend if you want to find it yourself.

Ah you're not an asshole. At least not to me, but I'm the same way depending on who I am communicating with.

Looks like you found the answer, legally they have that covered for billing on a different MAC address it looks.
 
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MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,466
3,067
121
Thanks for looking that up. I sure wasn't going to bother, which I guess opens me up to thirty some years of fending off lifers in the prison shower under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Hide you're meatballs while in prison.

:eek:

J/K

Ramen.
 
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Ken M

Junior Member
Dec 1, 2015
13
0
0
FTFY - and people make fun of me for being more concerned about Google and its ilk than the NSA.:rolleyes:/:cool:

E.g.:

See above.:D


Did you actually read the OP?:colbert:
Sure did. Stealing is stealing, if I walked into a restaurant and I just starting picking food off of your plate, you wouldn't be cool with it even if I *helped you out with the bill*.

Try again theif.
 

Carson Dyle

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2012
8,173
524
126
Having the same street address explains it, at least in part. Did the both of you have TWC service at one time at that same address, or did she sign up after you quit?

Using the same billing address, it's pretty easy to imagine how they could have an old email address associated with the account, or how the two could have been mixed up.
 

DaTT

Garage Moderator
Moderator
Feb 13, 2003
13,295
118
106
Sure did. Stealing is stealing, if I walked into a restaurant and I just starting picking food off of your plate, you wouldn't be cool with it even if I *helped you out with the bill*.

Try again theif.

This reads heavily like an Alkemyst reply....