Ratings abuse: thanks for alert.(Have You Heard?)

"As a longtime CONSUMER REPORTS subscriber, I guard the 'No Commercial Use' policy as zealously as you and support you in whatever action you take to correct this abuse," wrote Gary Vensel, a rehabilitation program manager from Malone, N.Y. So, it seems, do many of you. Time Warner Cable recently used CONSUMER REPORTS' Ratings to boost its Internet service's claims of superiority. Yes, Time Warner stopped once our in-house counsel got together with its lawyers. But the incident was bad on two levels: first, because our information was used incorrectly, and second, because it was used at all.

You knew that, and you know how important it is to stop this kind of abuse. You wrote us from New York, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. You were vigilant in Prairie Village, Kan., Minnetonka, Minn., and dozens of other towns around the country. You clipped the ad from newspapers, you offered to send us a DVD or a tape of the TV commercial, and you painstakingly detailed when and on which channels the Time Warner ad ran. "You're getting to know an awful lot about my viewing habits," wrote Frank Bouchard, "a lifetime subscriber and proud of it."

Many of you asked about our No Commercial Use policy. CONSUMER REPORTS does not allow our Ratings or reports to be used by others to promote a product or service; that would compromise our reputation for independence. Advertisements can easily mislead consumers into thinking that we granted permission for such use and that the ads accurately reflect our findings.

All of us at Consumers Union, publisher of ...