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Mediacom Injecting Their Ads Into Other Websites
Among Other Annoying New DPI Ad Endeavors

Earlier this month we noted how cable operator Mediacom has joined the growing number of ISPs that have begun using DNS redirection to deliver ads instead of the traditional page not found warning. Mediacom took things a step further and has apparently implemented deep packet inspection and DNS redirection advertising technology our users say is difficult to opt out of -- and persists even if you're using third party DNS services.

Now new complaints in our forums say Mediacom has started using Javascript to inject their own advertisements onto the top of websites -- including the normally stark Google main page. For illustration we've got screenshots of the Google and Apple websites after Mediacom is done with them.

Click for full size
Mediacom is literally intercepting website data and injecting their own code into websites in order to deliver ads where they weren't intended. The technology isn't new; if you recall Rogers was doing this back in 2007 in order to deliver ISP-specific messages using technology from Perftech. However, few ISPs have had the nerve to employ this technology for their own ads, given the inevitable backlash from consumers, ad networks, lawyers and potentially regulators.

Mediacom appears to have only started testing this "service" over the last week or so, and from looking at the Javascript files involved, it's the same Perftech technology employed by other ISPs. You can block such injections using Adblock, but you need to create a specific new AdBlock rule for the server the Javascript directs to. Users are given the ability to opt out of the ads, though as we've noted recently, Mediacom's opt out systems for their new advertising endeavors have not always worked. That's usually because some ISP executives are so thrilled by the new revenue potential new ad solutions offer, they stumble forward quickly ignoring technical (and sometimes legal and privacy) implications.

DPI tracking without informing your customers and broken opt out procedures are bad enough, but tinkering with websites and your customers' traffic for added revenue is something you'll find annoys paying customers -- who of course won't see the savings. There's some additional discussion about this in our Mediacom forum for those interested, including a message from a Mediacom representative saying it's being looked into as if it were some kind of bug (this is no bug). We've contacted Mediacom for comment and will share whatever information we get. We'd also be interested in seeing result links from any users willing to run a Netalyzr test.
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moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

1 recommendation

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

I would let the ads stay....

.....provided my bill was cut in half.

dlewis23
join:2005-04-18
Boca Raton, FL

dlewis23

Member

Re: I would let the ads stay....

said by moonpuppy:

.....provided my bill was cut in half.


I don't care of they make your bill free. If they were to inject ads into my website and refused to stop I would just block all traffic over mediacom.

I don't see how they can have any legal right to inject ads on another persons or companies website. That steals ad revenue from the operator.

N3OGH
Yo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano
Premium Member
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs

1 recommendation

N3OGH

Premium Member

Re: I would let the ads stay....

I'm not so much concerned with the ad revenue of the owner of the web site as the altering of the content.

Why not eventually alter the online reviews of your product to make your product look better, and a competitor look bad?

Would anyone put such tactics beyond ANY ISP? With some of the underhanded shit we've seen them do over the years, I have no doubt they would...
macmouse
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Carlsbad, CA

macmouse

Premium Member

Re: I would let the ads stay....

I've seen that exact tactic used on some fake spyware programs. Some edit the cost file, and setup a fake copy of download.com/pcworld/etc with praising reviews for their "product". More recently, I've seen some run a local proxy so they can inject data (and no doubt collect passwords) and altered some pages in real time. One customer had a broken install of norton, and on the download page they did a find/replace for the word norton and FakeAV2015 (or whatever it was)

N3OGH
Yo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano
Premium Member
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs

N3OGH

Premium Member

Re: I would let the ads stay....

Scary....
Ssid Silver
join:2010-11-04

Ssid Silver to N3OGH

Member

to N3OGH
Why not have an operator pop into your telephone conversations to try to sell you long distance plans or some other nonsense? It seems that because the internet is considered "new" technology, some providers just figure that anything goes.
19579823 (banned)
An Awesome Dude
join:2003-08-04

19579823 (banned)

Member

Re: I would let the ads stay....

Wouldnt surprise me if this happend sometime!

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102 to dlewis23

Member

to dlewis23
From what I can see, instead of inserting ads 'overtop' of an existing site, its effectively doing the following:

Taking a page, and breaking it into 2 frames, 1 consisting of the original information, 1 consisting of the ad/spam. I personally don't like it.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Re: I would let the ads stay....

That's what Rogers did. But if you look at the raw data it appears to all have come from the original site's owner ... and the inserted data counts against your data caps (if you have them).
19579823 (banned)
An Awesome Dude
join:2003-08-04

19579823 (banned) to dlewis23

Member

to dlewis23
quote:
I don't care of they make your bill free. If they were to inject ads into my website and refused to stop I would just block all traffic over mediacom.
Same here!!!

I would block them if possible..... (I dont like spam ads)

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

1 recommendation

sbrook to moonpuppy

Mod

to moonpuppy
Wait until they add usage based billing on top of this! Send you tons of junk to increase your consumption!

buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Dover, NH

buzz_4_20

Member

They Should Be Shot

This is why I advocate DUMB PIPES.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: They Should Be Shot

have at it: »ikano.com/
Expand your moderator at work

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix to buzz_4_20

Premium Member

to buzz_4_20
ya isp's should just route the data and stop worrying about adding in the new brand of bloatware
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: They Should Be Shot

and the same to you; have at it. Click the link that I posted and be done with it. lets see you do it.

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix

Premium Member

Re: They Should Be Shot

said by hottboiinnc4:

and the same to you; have at it. Click the link that I posted and be done with it. lets see you do it.

when you posted that it hadn't shown up for me yet
notice the 35 seconds differance in time

IowaMan
Premium Member
join:2008-08-21
Grinnell, IA

IowaMan

Premium Member

Re: They Should Be Shot

The company as a whole is shooting themselvs anyway. Due to Mediacom being a small player in the industry they are doing anything they can to generate revenue. They largest is Des Moines and Columbus MO. They are also (in process) being sold to the CEO »www.multichannel.com/art ··· Vote.php
Have a look
»www.google.com/finance?q ··· stype=ii
zipjay
join:2003-03-11
South Williamson, KY

zipjay

Member

let them keep the ads...

then call up customer service and declare that sense you have to look at ads they put there that you want $xx.xx off your bill which in my case i want a free month too.. cant do it? send me to cancelations
joeMI
join:2006-08-15
Mcmillan, MI

joeMI

Member

copyright?

assuming google did not grant permission, isn't that copyright infringement?

how can they change the look of the google.com web site?

dcurrey
Premium Member
join:2004-06-29
Mason, OH

dcurrey

Premium Member

Re: copyright?

You would think so. Hopefully google will sue them out of existence to keep others from pulling this crap. See plenty of ads on web as it is don't need isp adding more crap.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: copyright?

would not be. It's just a pop-up that comes over top. It basically creates a "frame".

And google sue them? LMAO! Google would just ask for $$$ and be done with it. They're nothing but a HUGE datamining company anyway. Any company that should be sued out of existence for that is Google for stealing data over WiFi.
Expand your moderator at work

CryptoSJ
@comcast.net

CryptoSJ to hottboiinnc4

Anon

to hottboiinnc4

Re: copyright?

Google stole data via wifi? Wasn't aware of this one...

Pretty sure they just took an antenna and listened to any signals within range -- akin to me standing out side on my street and listening to anyone who is talking within range.

They didn't break any encryption/security and they didn't "steal" any data.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: copyright?

yes they did steal the data. It was all over the news. Karl even reported on it some. But that was the end of it. Google was even "deleting" data before any courts could rule against them. But then again its Google- and they do no wrong.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

Re: copyright?

the most disturbing thing is Congress Critters wanted to see said data rather than just have a court order it deleted and then have google show records it was deleted.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

i wonder

Are they only able to do this over standard(unencrypted) port 80 traffic or are they able to do this over encrypted traffic also? i'm guessing it is only port 80.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: i wonder

i would assume regular port 80.

FreedomBuild
Well done is better than well said
Premium Member
join:2004-10-08
Rockford, IL

FreedomBuild

Premium Member

Violation on several accords

First: This violates the website owner and/or any ads they may display.
Second: This violates fundamental rights and user expectations.
Third: This would violate my personal computer privacy, security settings
Fourth: Violates any cap and or bandwidth restrictions said company may impose. We're already being billed for access and now this would count as traffic toward that access. Can we say double billing in essence? So not on;y will we pay for access but the traffic imposed by their injection.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Violation on several accords

1. The ad is basically a pop-up doesn't really violate anything.
2- fundamental rights of of what? user expectations? hardly.
3- personal computer privacy/security settings? there is none on the public Internet. Moot point.
4- How do you know if it violates any cap? This ad would NOT even touch the Actual Internet if its done locally. So you have no proof nor point with that.
dlewis23
join:2005-04-18
Boca Raton, FL

dlewis23

Member

Re: Violation on several accords

said by hottboiinnc4:

1. The ad is basically a pop-up doesn't really violate anything.

First its not a popup. And yes it actually does violate something.

Every advertiser I have every gone with has a little line in there rules that says "You can not display our ads on the same page as other advertisers ads"

This breaks that rule, and make the website operator violate there agreement with out them actually doing so.

••••••
Expand your moderator at work

FreedomBuild
Well done is better than well said
Premium Member
join:2004-10-08
Rockford, IL

FreedomBuild

Premium Member

I didn't intend on anyone getting bent out of shape. Yet, I don't intend to 'prove' everything either, especially from someone that chooses to rebut everything I may type with no proof themselves.

I simply move on about my business and let them be, just as some folk move on and let me rant or say my peace where I may. I think a few folk get my drift

Enjoy the rest of the week and smile
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Didn't this happen before?

Didn't something like this happen before back in the late '90s or early 2000s with Gator or some similar adware? IIRC, there was even a lawsuit or a threat of one, and whoever was injecting the ads had to back off.

I wonder how long it'll take for a C&D to show up at Midiacom's headquarters.

And this, my friends, is why we need Net neutrality. Injecting ads into someone's Web site is theft, plain and simple. It'd be like someone taking your newspaper, removing the paper's ads, and placing their own ads there instead. And, if that isn't bad enough, think about the potential for censorship. If you have this tech, and if you have access to the major Internet backbones, you can do all sorts of fun stuff. You could change whatever content on a Web site that you liked, such as anything controversial, such as WikiLeaks. It's much less obtrusive than blocking an entire site, and, depending on the publicity a topic is getting, you might be able to edit the content without many people even noticing.

••••••

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Iowa vs Massachusetts

I'm glad I don't live in Mediacom territory anymoe, although Comcast has issues but they're mostly issues with dropped connections. When I was traveling to Maine, I entered a URL to take a survey on a receipt and got a dns redirect page from Time Warner that took me to a phishing site that was a scam. That is why I would like to see cable companies be forced to lease access to third party ISPs, similar to the mandates of the AT&T/Bell divestiture that mandated phone companies lease lines to CLECs.

zpm
join:2009-03-23
Columbus, GA

zpm

Member

Re: Iowa vs Massachusetts

I left mediablowcom 2 years ago, and b/c i was tired of having to wait 2 weeks for a tech to come out to fix something.

if they did this back then i would have left real quick.
BHNtechXpert
The One & Only
Premium Member
join:2006-02-16
Saint Petersburg, FL

BHNtechXpert

Premium Member

This is a violation at multiple levels...

Mediacom is apparently begging for lawsuits that are sure to come. As a site owner if my Mediacom users on my site were impacted by this I would be hopping mad. This is cybersquatting at a whole new and low level and I guess you could compare it to someone coming onto your property and placing a giant "Sams Used Car Sales" sign in your front yard without permission.

Bad bad move on Mediacom's part.

•••••••••••••••••••••

gatorkram
Need for Speed
Premium Member
join:2002-07-22
Winterville, NC

gatorkram

Premium Member

Yuck!

I don't know what to call it, or what laws it SHOULD violate, but I know this.... If my ISP ever does it, it will be all out WAR

No end user, being subjected to this type of behavior, should think it's exceptable, and every end user being subjected to this should be on the phone 24/7 bitching to their ISP about it.

firephoto
Truth and reality matters
Premium Member
join:2003-03-18
Brewster, WA

firephoto

Premium Member

Quit buying into the concept of ads

and the problem goes away.

And quit believing the doom and gloom by those living off of ads. It's hollow snake eating it's own tail.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Quit buying into the concept of ads

sounds good to me but you better be prepared to start paying for every website you want to go to that was free before and ad supported; DSLR being one - if you don't count the $$$ they get from the companies they don't report on.

Steveo
@rr.com

Steveo

Anon

Opendns

opendns anyone
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: Opendns

said by Steveo :

opendns anyone

Won't work. What Mediacom is doing isn't related to DNS. They are intercepting the Web site traffic and modifying it as it travels from the site to your computer.

zalternate
join:2007-02-22
freedom land

zalternate

Member

Re: Opendns

Also known as "hacking". And is good for about 2 to 5 years in prison when convicted.

But the Suits in corporate have a butt load of money to bribe officials defend themselves in court and the majority of end users don't know that the injected Ad is not part of the webpage itself.
Then there are the users who think that they are somehow infected and spend many dollars on crapware removers to see no resolution from the hacking by the ISP.
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

chgo_man99

Member

If I have to move to Iowa if I get job offer

my choice is gonna be likely between Mediacom or Qwest (which is merged with Century Link).

How do these services compare? I would be living in Dubuque, which is quite a large town. Luckily, there is ATT 3G coverage for my iphone.
nweaver
join:2010-01-13
Napa, CA

1 recommendation

nweaver

Member

Can someone at Mediacom run Netalyzr?

Can someone at Mediacom run Netalyzr ( »netalyzr.com ) and post the results link?

We'd like to look into this in more details.
nweaver

1 recommendation

nweaver

Member

Re: Can someone at Mediacom run Netalyzr?

Also, this test: »www.cs.washington.edu/re ··· ire.html
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

Get Firefox with noscript and adblock

then just block the "frame" that is created. problem solved. I haven't seen an add in a website for over 3 years now thanks to FF and noscript, and then adblockplus is a bonus. simply put, us users will find a way to get rid of this annoyance, and since it loads like a frame, it can be blocked just like any other ad or service.
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

Mr Matt

Member

We have to save the children!

What happens when your 10 Year old daughter uses the computer right after your 20 Year old daughter spent time looking up birth control devices and methods and your 10 Year old gets bombarded with explicit birth control device advertisements from Mediacom. LOL

pokesph
It Is Almost Fast
Premium Member
join:2001-06-25
Sacramento, CA

1 recommendation

pokesph

Premium Member

ad inject to stop..

100% ILLEGAL!
data interception and modification.. bad, very bad.

After talking with Mediacom's Legal dept, (Tom Larsen) they are in the process of disabling this 'service' and say it was a "mistake" by the marketing dept and never cleared their legal dept lawyers.

If it is still happening, you can contact Tom at 1-888-692-9090 x2754 and tell him so.

•••••••
russotto
join:2000-10-05
West Orange, NJ

russotto

Member

Try encrypted

You should be able to use »www.google.com
Let 'em deep-packet-inspect that.

Janeway
@verizon.net

Janeway

Anon

Wouldn't this break SSL?

You could no longer do online banking, or even check your work email over their connection. What a useless ISP. If my ISP ever does that they'll have my cancellation the minuet I figure out what's going on.