Cable for Everyone!

I'm sort of wondering whether it matters that I've secured my wireless network, as I'm curious about the extent that the wired part of it is secure.

The other day I asked the television to find all the channels that it can. I only pay for sub-basic cable because it is cheaper to get this most limited package plus the cable internet than it is to get cable internet alone. I should only be getting the analog cable versions of my local over-the-air stations plus the community access channel. The TV, however, found a lot more channels than that. Many of them digital. Some of them also hi-def! It also found some "phantom" channels -- things that the TV thought were channels but with nothing on.

I'd been going through and deleting these faux channels from its list so that I can flick through my channels with speed and efficiency. Making the task harder, which channels had content would change: sometimes a channel on my "delete" list would be showing something; sometimes a channel on my "has something on list" would be blank. Last night I finally realized what so many of these channels were: these were the On Demand content being paid for and watched by other people! (How did I figure this out? Because I flicked past some porn that was being fast-forwarded.)

If Comcast sends the movies to everyone, what are they doing with my cable internet? How easy would it be for someone with a demultiplexer to collect all my network traffic from their cable?


(In unrelated news: For the past two days I've felt like the people in the Cymbalta ad. I've been in a bad mood, and my right shoulder hurts. Argh.)

(In other unrelated news: Secret message to k and someone I can't mention by name: I've registered a username on the iChat. I'm sure THAT will help my shoulder a lot.)