This "service" is being rolled out (secret trials were carried out on the unsuspecting customer base which is how this came to light and subsequently investigated by the toothless ICO) under the guise of making our experience better by identifying malware riddled websites (and subsequently blocking them - duh, I have several layers of that protection already!) whereas the evidence suggests it's just another way of spying on our usage for commercial gain at the very least - the ICO have already reprimanded my ISP for not disclosing it to them or it's customers.
The problem is, despite all that's occured, my ISP is telling us it will go live soon and opt-out is not possible, just the option to bypass the block.
What's particularly disturbing is the alleged manner it operated (and presumably will) which could well have a negative effect on FCF (hence this post) and all other services I frequent.
Ok, so what has this got to do with FCF, I hear? Well, it might be nothing or might be more serious but in basic terms, it's impersonating it's customers and therefore stealing bandwidth from sites/services and this is how.
It monitors customers URL requests and copies them for it's own use to be replayed moments later! Yes, within a few minutes of my visit it impersonates me, attempts to go exactly where I've been using copies of my URL requests (which can contain login and other personal/identifying info for instance) and then purportedly determines if there's any malware in the sites/pages returned. It's been reported by site admins that this includes non-public admin control panel pages for instance, it just copies everything in the URL request regardless.
So, in short, I feel I have to apologise if only for the wasted bandwidth/resources my ISP has, is or will be stealing. I'm also concerned what other negative effects this can have (stalling pages comes to mind?) to both myself and the site admins that I'm not aware of. Sorry guys, I feel extremely embarrassed by this even though I know I'm not directly responsible
Besides, I'm getting the best speed I've had in over four years for £10pm less than the competition and kind of like their service - no need for call centres, they've got an online forum manned by staff that speak/write perfect english and did a great job of sorting my first bill's problem.