Mediacom Users Struggle To Opt Out Of DNS Redirection Ads > 404?

404?

cable operator Mediacom is now using DNS redirection to direct people who mistype URLs to a an ad-laden search portal instead of a 404 error

I'd like to see your evidence that they're intercepting responses from webservers (ala 404 errors) and replacing them with an ad page.

Hijacking NXDOMAIN is one thing. Connecting to an existing webserver, asking for a document, and your ISP replacing the answer... That should be criminal -- but, sadly, isn't.

if they are doing DPI along with NXDOMAIN they could easily catch all the 404 pages and replace them with whatever they want.

reply to cramer

The original thread doesn't present any *proof*. They are only describing what they are seeing. If the ISP is running a transparent proxy then they aren't messing with your connection to a foreign server. (you aren't connecting to the server you think you are. which is a different thing to bitch about.)

I'd love to look into it myself, but they aren't my ISP. If you want a URL to test, I'll give you one -- the server (my server) answers with a custom 404 page. (it has been for over a decade.)

Well what proof do you expect? Mediacom customers (such as myself) have confirmed this. You're asking for proof besides what they see. What proof will satisfy you? Some of the people involved in the thread discussed are/were Mediacom technicians!

I have a few sites on a dedicated server. The sites with a custom 404 don't result in Mediacom providing their assistance page. Sites without a custom 404 return Mediacom's assistance page.

Packet captures of both sides. If the server is returning http status code 404 and not a 302 redirect to the error page, and they aren't messing with it, then there's a whole new set of questions about what the h*** they're doing.

In fact, just use telnet or netcat and watch the characters as you type them. (you'll have to be the web browser and web server in this experiment.)

(BTW, I didn't see anyone from mediacom fessing up to exactly what they're doing. Just several "it's fixed now" jedi-hand-waves.)

Unfortunately that is getting above my skill level. But I'd be willing to entertain it if I had some guidance.

As far as anyone from Mediacom fessing up on it, I doubt it. I meant that a few Mediacom employees in the thread - who aren't advertised as employees but those who have been in the Mediacom forum do know - have confirmed the results that we customers have seen.