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Ask HN: How is a company like Comcast able to get away with spam?

111 points by jc_811 ↗ HN
I recently signed up for Comcast Xfinity internet (only one available in my area), and ever since I signed up I receive marketing emails almost daily that do not have an unsubscribe link because they are marked as "service related emails".

I've unsubscribed from every single email preference in my account, and even went so far to confirm with their support agents that I did it correctly.

However, almost daily I receive emails about "See what your wifi can do" or "Don't forget about these new features" etc, that are clearly marketing and not service related. Browsing forums online it seems there are countless others who have the same complaints as me.

So, my main question is, how can a company get away with this when it is blatantly in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act? Is it truly just too difficult for any individual to hire a lawyer and go up against Goliath? Does the CAN-SPAM act have any loopholes I'm not aware of that would allow this? I'm genuinely curious to this, and do not want to come off as just an angry customer ranting.

45 comments

[ 660 ms ] story [ 2142 ms ] thread
fezzez
It's to their detriment to do this. If this is on your Gmail, mark that email as spam. With enough people doing that, Comcast will either have to be more transparent about those emails or face the consequences of getting dinged by Gmail.
thesagan
With Comcast maintaining pipes that carry traffic to Google, I wonder how a Google vs. Comcast event would look.
SteveNuts
Maybe ISPs would finally be forced to act as impartial common carriers
snowwrestler
Comcast would lose. No one gives a shit about which ISP they use, but cut off their Gmail and they will be pissed.

Comcast dodged a bullet when the FCC reversed their common carrier finding. Blocking Google services is the sort of malicious content blocking that would justify re-examine that.

Comcast is also about to face a ton of new ISP competition: Starlink is expanding, and Verizon is building out their residential 5G service. My city, which only has Comcast now and never got FiOS, will be fully lit for Verizon res 5G within 2 years. Life is about to get harder for Comcast as an ISP.

arp242
One of the potential issues with this is, is that actual service emails might also end up getting blocked.
elliekelly
Take a look at the regulations[1] implementing the CAN-SPAM Act, specifically §316.3a(2)-(3) and you can probably figure out where Comcast is technically complying with the letter of the law. You can also check your account agreement. I would imagine they’ve got a broadly phrased paragraph or two saying they’re allowed to contact you with “updates” about the service.

[1] https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&SID=cea8be427...

harikb
The congressional aides who help write laws have a sense of humor. the word CAN-SPAM not only sounds funny, but the portion “SPAM” itself doesn’t even mean SPAM as used in traditional usage. It is short for Non-Solicited Porn And Marketing, with ‘N’ going to CAN
superkuh
Like everyone else I think these emails are legal.

But it is wild that Comcast gets away with performing man-in-the-middle javascript injection attacks on it's customers' HTTP connections.

userbinator
Its customers' data is flowing through equipment that it owns.

At a more smaller scale, I think I certainly should have the right to monitor and alter the traffic flowing through my home network too.

superkuh
Now imagine your telephone provider injecting messages into your phone calls and you'll see how this is different.
dmitrygr
Mark them as spam, tell all your friends to do the same. Eventually gmail will auto-delete them not just for you but for everyone.
reaperducer
Eventually gmail will auto-delete them not just for you but for everyone.

Tell that to Soma and Hallmark. I've marked their email as spam in Gmail weekly for the last six or seven years and it still gets through.

Things like this are why some people on HN suspect that certain marketing companies can (pay to?) bypass Gmail's spam filter.

wl
It's even worse when these emails come from ISPs you've never had an account with. I'm looking at you Charter, Optimum, and Verizon.
c3534l
Its not considered illegal if you're actively doing business with them. I believe there is a period after you've done business with a company where they can send you follow-up spam.
Meph504
Can spam doesn't really have teeth, I would recommend changing the email on your account.
vxNsr
This issue is you miss the email telling you the cc wasn’t able to be charged and your account is being termed.
ALittleLight
You'll notice when the internet goes out and you can call and pay the balance then. That's how I handle them. I just signed up using my spam email address that I never check and recently when I had to cancel my credit card I wound up having the service temporarily shut off, took ~5 minutes to correct.
vxNsr
I hear, all I gotta say is I'm happy I have the option to get high speed internet without having to deal with them (we have honest to god competition here).
Meph504
I know what my bill is monthly, my bank will handle paying the bill, I have rules in my bill pay that will pay whatever it is, if it's under a configured amount.

I've never had that issue.

vxNsr
Oh, I like to pay anything online with cc, I'd rather spend someone else's money and pay them back vs my own money in cases of fraud. that being said if it works for you, great!
Meph504
For things I think are sketch I can use onetime CC numbers, but what I was referring to are repeating bills for services I do continued business, and even if some how that was compromised the limit on the amount paid would only allow them what they get monthly.

Credit card companies exist in the same space as loan sharks for me, so I avoid them when I can, and their transaction fees and interest for services included with my bank.

nichch
I've actually unsubscribed 2 times and Xfinity still sends me marketing emails. I have never been an Xfinity customer myself, put in an address once and never went to their site again.
bluedino
Charter calls me almost twice a week. Or at least marketing companies offering charter services. Plus one piece of mail a week offering some kind of deal.

Edit: They are Spectrum now

kwertyoowiyop
It’s so annoying. ALL Comcast emails now go to my spam folder because of this. Pretty sure I’ll never miss anything significant.
someonehere
My parents never got a lot of phone calls to their landline until they signed up for Comcast. They had Verizon for years but DSL was aging on their daily usage so I moved them to cable. Non-stop spam calls all day. I had to buy one of those boxes that plugs into the phone line to cut back on the amount they were receiving. This coincidentally started a week after they got Comcast. I am convinced Comcast sells their info or they have data leaking somewhere.
simfree
The local routing number tied to your parents phone number changed when you ported it to Comcast, thus spammers started calling your parent's known good number.
asperous
I’m a Comcast customer and I don’t receive these at all. I just get “your bill is ready to view” and that’s it.

Which makes me wonder what’s wrong with your account. Is it a regional thing where one comcast region is bugged? Do you have a duplicate sub-account that you aren’t aware of that has the setting? I never set up my “comcast email”. Do you have that forwarded to your main email?

Not defending them at all, just trying to understand how this could happen or help you get rid of the emails.

mobjack
Sounds like onboarding emails for new customers.

Some product manager sees that new users aren't using all their "great" features so they schedule emails to educate them.

They will stop after all the emails in the series have been sent out.

LeoPanthera
It might be that they're sending the spam to your comcast.net address - many Xfinity customers never check this.
loosetypes
Same with Uber promos infiltrating push notifications.
[dead] gjs278
I wish my isp would stop sending so much fucking real world mail to try and convince me to buy cable tv
sneak
I don't have an answer to your question, but do have some security advice:

Never use the same email for utilities in your house as you do for anything else. Have a dedicated e-mail address for the purpose.

loosetypes
How do you go about this? Or perhaps rather how do you manage multiple email inboxes?

I’ve gone this route before but found it burdensome. Perhaps there’s tooling that makes it easier?

sneak
I use a lot of different computers/phones. I put sticky labels on them to remind me what is what. I basically have a separate laptop for each of my companies, and a few personal ones. I don't cross the streams.

Lots of email clients support multiple accounts, too. Browsers easily support multiple profiles with independent cookie jars for different webmail logins.

For addresses that aren't security boundaries and from which you never need to send mail, you can forward them to your main address using a + tag and filter them thus into a folder.

0goel0
This annoys the hell out of me. I'm in the same spot getting spam emails even though I've unsubscribed from everything. What's worse is that I also get their marketing emails even though I've been unsubscribed.

Most recently, "Just for you: Save Big with Xfinity Mobile " and "Welcome to your new Xfinity Retail Store.".

Like fuck you comcast.

oblongx
To be fair and for what it's worth, xfinity mobile is pretty great. It's on the verizon network and most months I pay $12 for the single gig plan. unlimited is 45, then again you just read another ad for Comcast. sorry i guess
hedora
Simple solution: Comcast gives you a free email address when you sign up. Use that for your account’s only contact address.

Whenever I login to their crappy site, and start screaming profanities, I see the unread email count, and feel a little happier. At least their spam is costing them (and only them) money.

teeray
This is the way. I just stick that random email along with my random password in my password manager and never give it another thought. Let their disks fill up with their own spam.
reaperducer
I recently signed up for Comcast Xfinity internet (only one available in my area), and ever since I signed up I receive marketing emails almost daily that do not have an unsubscribe link because they are marked as "service related emails".

At least you signed up. I've never lived in a Comcast service area, and I get Comcast business internet spam almost weekly.

hansvm
Not to excuse Comcast if they're doing something shady, but within a month of my unsubscribing from everything they did in fact stop giving me any emails. Is the complaint that this isn't happening for OP, that it shouldn't take a month, or something else?
Black101
I hate Comcast and I have to use their service but I don't get SPAM emails about their service while I'm subscribed.
rasz
In Europe Liberty Global at least offers to pay you ~$2/month for the consent to spam new offers.
chrisbennet
For other spam, I forward it to "abuse@comcast.net".