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Earthlink Offers Alternate DNS Without "Dead DNS"

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the just-resolve-my-names dept.

Joshua Flory writes, "In response to the story about Earthlink and their version of 'Site Finder', I learned today that Earthlink has provided alternate DNS servers that will remain outside of their 'dead DNS' service. However, this is a completely unsupported service, which begs the question, WHY? Everyone can gain access to public DNS servers, or create their own. The point is that people wanted DNS servers supported by EL that do not include this dead DNS service." Sounds like it's time for Earthlink users to check out OpenDNS.com... they make it easy to turn off the bad-URL behavior.

11 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Islamic Clerics declare Fatwa against BLOCKQUOTE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    MUDRAGISTAN (Reuters) - Islamic Clerics announced today that due to the incapacity of the islamic mind to understand the difference between an opinion and a quotation, henceforth all use of the BLOCKQUOTE tag in HTML shall be met with unyielding and divine retribution.

    The BLOCKQUOTE tag, as introduced with the HTML 2.0 specification in 1994, has been used on websites throughout the world to signify that the text contained within is a quotation from an external source. However, due to an inability for islamics to grow the fuck up and understand basic communicative syntax, they now believe it is their holy right to murder anyone they want to just because one person quoted someone else within context.

    This antithesis of freedom is a common theme running throughout all islamic interaction with civilised society. Rampaging islamic mobs worldwide have burned effigies of Dave Raggett, creator of HTML, alongside effigies of President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI. Police measures are now in place to put everyone who ever had a Myspace page or Geocities account into hiding.

    Inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, was unavailable for comment. Which is probably just as well as we don't want to get bombed by the raghead fuckwits just for quoting him.

  2. But wait! by OverlordQ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I thought Earthlink Engineers were so amazingly intelligent that they said that their Dead DNS would only affect Web traffic.

    Oh wait, no they're not. They *still* dont get what's wrong with what they're doing.

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
    1. Re:But wait! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most of the engineers didn't know this was being done until it was far too late, and they aren't happy about it. And even if they had, it's doubtful it would have made a difference to the folks looking to make some money. So as an engineer distressed by this whole idea, you have two choices:

      1. Make a fuss and become a potential target.
      2. Complain amongst friends, and pray for a PR disaster that gets it shut down.

      I think the bulk have opted for door #2.

  3. Re:umm by aliendisaster · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sprint uses Earthlink. I have Sprint DSL and it comes with Earthlink's services (which I never use).

    --
    Freedom is a state of mind. A mind is a state of being. Stay the fuck out of my mind and my being. - Corporate Avenger
  4. OpenDNS is no better by sidb · · Score: 4, Informative

    OpenDNS is not a solution to this problem those with dynamic IPs, which includes most Earthlink customers (like me). By default, they do exactly the same thing Earthlink does: from their webpage: "...when we can't fix your typo we take you to a page with a set of search results." They do allow you to turn that behavior off on their prefs page, but only if you have a static IP. And I somehow doubt that there isn't a speed hit going off your ISPs own network for all your DNS queries, anyway.

    The correct solution, of course, is to ditch Earthlink. Or in my case, not renew with them the next time I change my service -- unfortunately, changing now would be expensive. Until then, I'm going with Earthlink's secret, unbroken servers over OpenDNS.

    1. Re:OpenDNS is no better by davidu · · Score: 3, Informative

       
      So if you have typo protection enabled, and you type googl.ecom, it figures out that you meant google.com and directs you there. If it can't figure out the domain you intended, it sends you to their search page. If you disable the typo correction, then it just sends you to the search page immediately.


      That is absolutely false. If you disable typo correction you will never see the search page. The search page is intended to help users so if you turn off typo correction, you turn off that page. That's okay with us. You will see NXDOMAIN (RCODE=3) responses from our server. Like I've pointed out before, we're technologists and we're building functional and interoperable stuff here.

      Not to toot my horn or get all "Slashdot's lame" on this thread but I've been here a long time and it's clear to me that most of the users who posted on slashdot when we launched didn't even read our site or understand what it is that we're doing. Can we not make that mistake again?
       
      We're putting control and choice into users hands where there was none before. It's a fact of life that ISPs are doing this. They should be working with us, just like users are. We look at this as giving you a dashboard and all the knobs and buttons you need to manage DNS. DNS is the root (no pun intended) of a ton of applications and services so why wouldn't you want to manage it just like you would a firewall or anti-spam service?

      Best,
      David
      --

      # Hack the planet, it's important.
  5. Less savy people will not know by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who knows OpenDNS? Who knows of the alternatives? You do, I do, Joe Average doesn't. Ya know, the internet and a lotta tubes...

    Why do you think AOL is still in business? If people knew about their options, a lot of the large providers would go out of biz.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. Moo by Chacham · · Score: 3, Funny

    Better yet, let everyone have a say.

    Let's make DNS a wiki!

    --
    Have you read my journal today?
  7. That's funny by deinol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sounds like it's time for Earthlink users to check out OpenDNS.com... they make it easy to turn off the bad-URL behavior.

    Strange, it sounds to me like it's time for Earthlink users to find a new provider. I know sometimes there are very few options for broadband in an area, but last I checked there were plenty of dialup companies still competing and about.

    --
    Got Apathy?
  8. Re:OpenDNS doesn't work for everyone by pixr99 · · Score: 3, Informative

    FYI, a few weeks back, David Ulevitch blogged that this is no longer a problem.

  9. Re:umm by theodicey · · Score: 4, Informative

    I do, as an alternative to supporting AT&T's illegal wiretapping and internet traffic monitoring.

    They cost about $2 more a month for DSL + phone + long distance. The cost difference isn't really their fault, the FCC allowed AT&T and the phone monopolies to charge whatever they wanted for line access. But they make it up in other ways, like with 500 minutes of free long distance

    Also, Earthlink's DSL service (provided by Covad) is faster than AT&T's was.