Spies like Comcast?

Could Comcast use that new combination cable modem/802.11g wireless access point they're carrying from Linksys to snoop around on their subscribers' home networks? Om Malik did a bit of poiking around and found that the Wireless-G Cable Gateway uses something called the Cablehome 1.0 standard, which sounds innocent enough, except that it's basically put into networking gear so that cable operators can see how many computers are attached to your home network and what exactly they're doing. Not a big deal, since they can already monitor what you're doing if they want to, right? Well, the big difference here is that they can actually take things a step further and disable specific devices and computers that are connected to your home network, like a PC that is engaged in illegal file-sharing or, say, Vonage's broadband telephone adapter, which competes with Comcast's Voice over IP service. A big corporation spy on its customers? Nah, it'll never happen.