ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) on Tuesday condemned the practice of redirecting Internet users to a third-party Web site or portal when they misspell a Web address and type a domain name that does not exist.Rather than return an error message for DNS (Domain Name System) requests for nonexistent domains, some DNS operators send back the IP (Internet Protocol) address of another domain, a process known as NXDOMAIN substitution. The target address is often a Web portal or information site.
Handling DNS requests this way has a number drawbacks that could lead to the Internet not working properly, according to ICANN.
Now how do I get my ISP to stop doing that?
The case presented by the companies selling this scam as a service to your ISP is quite compelling and hard to combat unless customers are willing to walk. "Churn" is what telco's hate to have and by far the best argument to combat the scheme.
That practice should be made illegal by lawmakers. Yet something more we could add to Net Neutrality.
Imagine your TV cable operator hijacking the empty channels to put some of their stuff. Pure craziness.
Change your DNS to OpenDNS
Imagine your TV cable operator hijacking the empty channels to put some of their stuff. Pure craziness.
Whether the lawmakers would want to make NXDOMAIN substitution practices illegal (especially in countries outside of the US) is unlikely.
Change your DNS to OpenDNS
Agree they are one of the worst offenders - it is not that difficult to set up your own DNS server and link it directly in to the root servers.
it is not that difficult to set up your own DNS server and link it directly in to the root servers.
With ICANN's announcement maybe complaints might gain some weight. I hate this. It seems some ISP's, like Comcast, never tire of finding ways to interpose themselves in the flow of traffic between their customers computers and the world. Sandvine throttling was basically a 'man-in-the-middle' attack. This is DNS hijacking. If I did it, the FBI would be kicking down the door!
it is not that difficult to set up your own DNS server
OpenDNS displays a custom search result page only when the domain isn't temporary responding, but not for non-existing domains.
I get the same OpenDNS "guide" page with ads on it for non-existing domains too, as well as when a site is temporarily not responding.
I get the same OpenDNS "guide" page with ads on it for non-existing domains too, as well as when a site is temporarily not responding.
that's weird. maybe i have a grandfathered account? i just tried a bunch of different typos and all of them resulted in firefox page, not opendns. i also don't see any settings to turn it on/off. I however found a references from a couple of years ago, one of the OpenDNS people commenting on a blog entry saying that they can turn it off if you ask for it. I don't remember asking myself though.
When an entered domain does not exist because of a user typo, the normal DNS error allows the user to correct that error and try again.
When the typo is redirected[or DNS hijacked], the browser's URL bar shows a different URL which means the user has to type the whole URL again.
I avoid any ISP that does this.
That's great news! Now how do I get my ISP to stop doing that?
Change your DNS servers to #.#.#.1 and #.#.#.2.
[edited by: Webwork at 3:39 am (utc) on Dec. 2, 2009]
[edit reason] No specifics please [/edit]
