Is this legal? / Cox chooses a little less PC security protection for its customers (Please forgive if this is not the right subforum for this, but chose since dealing with PC security issue. Mods - please move if you believe if it is better to be in another subforum.)
I have a Motorola Surfboard cable modem I bought last summer with a standby switch (and one before that after it mechanically failed after five years), and Cox as my cable provider. I like the modem with the standby switch because you can use it to disconnect your PC from the internet when you want, especially if you were working with files with sensitive personal information, or even as an additional PC security during botups and shutdowns when your PC firewall software (my case Zone Alarm) may not be fully active yet preventing hacker attempts during these brief few minutes.
Last week for a couple of days I noticed that the all the lights of the cable modem were on, and that the hitting the standby button would no longer work. I unplugged and replugged in the modem to no effect to fixing the problem. Strange, I thought for a 6-month old cable modem, which initial thought of some mechanical problem with the modem. I called Motorola tech support who I got a helpful rep who said the most likely cause was that Cox pushed software to disable the standby switch of its customers cable modems. I then called Cox who another knowledgeable rep who indeed confirmed this is what happened. He explained the reason they did this was at least two reasons: 1) reduced service calls from customers saying their Internet service is no longer working, but then finding the cable modem was on standby, and also giving the cable modems greater life, 2) for customers with VOIP phone service (I am not one of these, I have separate phone service not tied to VOIP or the cable service) who could not make 911 calls because their cable modem was on standby. This was a blanket decision on Cox's part, and no option for customers to opt-in or opt-out, especially for non-VOIP non-digital telephone customers.
Cox did this across all of their customers with cable modems with standby switches, without any prior notification to customers, no notification in bills, etc.? This sounds like some cell carriers who puts their own software on cell phones, but this is even worse because you buy the cable modem, and later a feature of it is disabled by the cable company. I wonder if they weighed out the additional PC security risks/identity theft its customers may have because of this move. PCwise, and no security solution is 100%, I have a router, Zone Alarm fireware, and multiple layers of anti-malware software including ZA Security Suite, Spyware Doctor, MS Windows Defender, and Threatfire (2nd generation zero-day malware protection). Many of their customers do not go this far to protect their PCs (depends on what you are doing with your PC as to the level of protection you choose). Anyhow, the workaround to Cox's move, is to engage or disengage the Internet lock through Zone Alarm, though this does not resolve for bootups/shutdowns if you do not want to be connected to the internet short of unplugging the cable modem, sending an alarm to Cox, or unplugging ethernet cables between your cable modem and router and/or PC, not convenient getting on the floor to do this. Also what if in the not distant future, I move, I no longer have cable modem service, but Internet service otherwise, and I want to sell the cable modem. Will Cox remove the software they pushed to disable the standby switch on it? | 
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