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by rectang 2918 days ago
When I went to start streaming the world cup, AT&T took the initiative to "sign me in" to a third party (Fox) without asking for credentials or permission.

They know who you are. They know everywhere you go. And they are happy to spread what they know about you around.
3 comments
majormajor 2918 days ago
When I used AT&T TV+internet a few months ago, this was still the old-style "click here to auth with your cable provider" -> [click the AT&T Uverse button] -> "thanks!" (they recognized I was on a hardwired AT&T connection so didn't require auth).

Is this something new? What was the flow? Do you have both AT&T internet + TV as well?

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aslkdjaslkdj1 2918 days ago
Have you used your login for any other TV service? The OTT industry has settled on a pretty broad single sign-on ecosystem. If you've logged into any OTT service with your crendentials, you likely don't need to do it again for any other service.

https://www.fiercecable.com/cable/tv-everywhere-starts-up-46...

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rectang 2918 days ago
No. I've got Firefox configured to nuke almost everything on restart, plus I run PrivacyBadger and uBlock Origin. This is not me overlooking an existing login.

(I also run a site-specific browsers via Chrome to isolate my Gmail login and keep Google from knowing who I am, I have no Facebook login, etc. I'm not serious enough to run a VPN or Tor, and my setup isn't enough to guard against browser fingerprinting, but I'm reasonably paranoid.)

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ghein 2918 days ago
If they're your ISP they own you.

Personally it's handy as my ISP lets me watch tv on any device on my home network. They did it badly because it breaks if I change the SSID.

But you're not truly paranoid unless you're using tor or a vpn to get away from your ISP's network. Your efforts mostly are an annoyance to yourself but no impediment to other.

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scarface74 2918 days ago
Why is this bad? I’m on thier network, they know I’m a customer, why not sign me in.

I bought my dad a Roku TV for his birthday and the idea of having to go to website, login with his cable companies userid and password and then use the one time code displayed on his TV,confuses him to no end.

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rectang 2917 days ago
It would be "convenient" if AT&T's CEO were to appear in my boudoir tomorrow morning to give me a pedicure, comb my beard, spritz me with Axe Body Spray, and tie my bow tie. But before they decide to do that, I'd like a say in the matter.
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scarface74 2917 days ago
How is this abt different than every corporate SSO ever?
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