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How One Man Fought His ISP's Bad Behavior and Won
An anonymous reader writes "Eric Helgeson documents his experience with an unscrupulous ISP that was injecting affiliate IDs into the URLs for online retailers. 'It appears that the method they were using was to poison the A record of retailers and do a 301 redirect back to the www cname. This is due to the way apex, or 'naked' domain names work.' Upon contacting the ISP, they offered him access to two DNS servers that don't perform the injection, but they showed no indication that they would stop, or opt-out any other subscribers. (It was also the only wireless provider in his area, so he couldn't just switch to a competitor.) Helgeson then sent the data he gathered to the affiliate programs of major retailers on the assumption that they'd be upset by this as well. He was right, and they put a stop to it. He says, 'ISP's ask you to not do crummy things on their networks, so how about they don't do the same to their customers?'"
Google DNS is 8.8.8.8. and 8.8.4.4
Open DNS is 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
Norton Safe Connect (personal use, not for business) is 199.85.126.10 and 199.85.127.10. Supposed to protect against malware, phishing sites, and scams.
https://dns.norton.com/dnsweb/homePage.do
Life is not for the lazy.
From the featured article: "There is currently no way to validate the DNS record you’re being served is what the person hosting the website intended." Apparently the author hasn't heard of DNSSEC.
(It was also the only wireless provider in his area, so he couldn't just switch to a competitor.)
No, the blog says:
You may be asking why don’t I switch ISPs? Well they are the only one besides a wireless provider in my area.
Which means there are 2 ISPs. The one he's using is not wireless, and the other one is wireless.
Name of the ISP please?
he should NOT have responded back to the ISP with details of his actions (reporting the hidden redirects to retailers and affiliate networks); the first seven words of last sentence was enough. then left it up to THEM (by way of termination of affiliate accounts, denial of commission payments, etc) to make this "service" and the party company the ISP deals with worthless due to lack of participating merchants and affiliate networks. if the ISP kept the revenue stream but later removes the alternate (clean) name servers, or does not disclose the practice of DNS redirect, THEN take a more aggressive stance, including contact with the state ag and puc.. with the final 'nuclear' option being becoming an affiliate of an affected merchant or merchants, and then filing a lawsuit against the ISP, and the company they contract the service from, for fucking up his own affiliate links.
Being from the part of Minnesota that Arvig is based in, I can tell ya, this behavior is very typical of them.
When I had gotten set up upon moving into the area, the install tech bragged how all the homes (over 200 of them) on this part of town were all connected on 1 cable loop. It was a heads up from the tech that I should have paid attention to. I ended up cancelling my service early due to a consistent 1mb down every Friday and Saturday when I was paying for 10mb. Customer service actually said "we guarantee up to 10mb" "10mb is the maximum you will get"
So many have switched over to 4g hotspots, they actually cut the offices hours here.
Saw this in Reddit this morning but thanks for reposting it.
Seriously, the drawback to using public DNS like OpenDNS and Google DNS is that they present a serious performance problem.
Even though the physical DNS servers are "anycast" and geographically diverse, the IP addresses are still the same. Threrefore, the large content delivery networks (CDNs) like Akamai and LimeLight still use the IP address of the DNS server to judge your location.
Therefore, any service that uses a CDN (even Google's use them in spite of their own network) will really serve your content out of a data center that is not geographically or logically near your machine's location.
The article (if you read it) mentions that his ISP, like most that have similar revenue-extracting services, really does offer alternative DNS servers that do not pack affiliate cookies. You should use those if you want to enjoy high-performance, edge-serve content via Akamai (AKAM) and LimeLight (LLNW).
Otherwise, you'll all get your edge content served from some random data center in the central USA.
Kriston
VPN.
Not much else you can do.
A whole 2 ISPs to choose from, only one of which offers wireless! Obviously a problem of too much choice http://www.economist.com/node/17723028
It would have been better to contact FBI and report this fraud. Whoever the hell runs fwdsnp.com needs to spend some time in jail.
Do a search for "DNSjumper". It's a great little tool that lets one well...uh...jump around various DNS servers and arrange them in any order you want, ping them much easier and more often and makes it comfortable to change one or all if you feel your current list isn't to your liking. (I'm not sure of the author's or company's official website, so I don't want to push one source over another).
Completely in YOUR control (see "B" below): Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):
---
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
(Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)
Summary:
---
A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4127345&cid=44701775
B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3985079&cid=44310431 w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,
C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).
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* Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently - you'll see) Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts ( A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself )
APK
P.S.=> * "A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
** "Less is more" = GOOD engineering!
*** "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk
Is any of the P2P DNS solutions (and which one?) a viable alternative to the Google DNS or OpenDNS? Does anyone have experiences that they would like to share?
I think I read 75% of the things here elsewhere around a day in advance.
Slashdot isn't (well, in its prime) where you come for breaking news, it's where you go (again, back in its prime) for great intellectual technological discussions.
Since when does being a Socialist mean 'someone who has a different opinion than me'?
I agree this is pretty scummy to do by default but I personally wouldn't have a problem opting in to something like this. Imagine if by signing up you could get dirt cheap (or free) internet in exchange. Sounds like a good deal.
I'm in a worse situation - my apartment complex signed a deal with a certain niche ISP by the extremely vague name of "Telcom", to provide internet at a fixed rate (the base package is part of my rent, so I don't even know what they're charging). While we're officially allowed to buy our own if we so choose, a) I'd still be paying Telcom for their TV/Phone/Internet deal, and b) not a single other ISP is actually offering anything to this apartment. Every building bordering it, sure, but even in the months-long hiatus where Telcom couldn't get the building hooked up but the deal had been made, nobody would give me service.
A few months ago, there was a peculiar outage. They have glitches every so often where the connection dies for an hour or so, so I didn't think much of it until I realized Bittorrent was still downloading. A few more investigations showed that pings by IP worked, but not by hostname - but never with an actual DNS error. I didn't bother investigating further, and just set my DNS server to 8.8.8.8 because that was all I could remember off the top of my head. I now suspect they may have been trying to implement something like this, because that's just the kind of scummy move they'd do.
I started keeping track of their uptime last month. By my numbers, they got one nine of reliability - 90% uptime.
I'd switch in a heartbeat as soon as anyone dared to sell me anything else.
Most of the "news" on here is days or even weeks old by the time its posted. I remember when sites actually linked to slashdot for news.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Your ISP can still spoof the DNS responses. That's what hotels do.
But assuming they don't, no reason not to just run your own cacheing DNS resolver on your local network. It's very easy to do and might even be faster than third parties like GOOG, OpenDNS or Nominum. Certainly faster for people who determine your location via DNS resolver address.
(That Hiroku article is bizarre. Tip: "root domain" means something different. You can put a CNAME on any name. And why would one sort require hard coding your IP address???)
From the article: he goes to amazon.com, it returns the IP for the proxy, and eventually a redirect to www.amazon.com/?affiliate=id
How does that affect the user? Do they see a different page than if they'd gone straight to www.amazon.com? Or is it just that the affiliate gets a cut if the user buys anything from amazon at that point? Who loses out here? Other affiliates who aren't in the program?
> It's not good enough that they track you at every site that uses Analytics,
> every site that uses AdWords, every site you go to from their search engine,
> every site you visit with their Toolbar in play. (I'm forgetting a hundred other ways they suck your data.)
Factoring in a few of the other ways you didn't list, like sites with YouTube videos, we can guess Google is aware of about 85% of consumer web traffic. Using their DNS would tell them the only the hostname of the other 15%, and only once per TTL. So call that 7% from using Google's DNS.
Using anyone else's DNS gives that other company 100% of your lookups rather than the 0% they had before. 100% is a lot more than 7% or 15%, so you're giving up a lot more privacy by using any DNS other than Google.
In other words, Google already knows which sites you're visiting - you got to those sites by searching Google. Why would you also give that information to some other company?
That was my thought process after I found that Chrome is so good for web development. I'm using Chrome, so Google has a profile of my web surfing. There is no reason to let another company have the same information, so I'm better off using Google services all around. (Besides the fact that Google provides good services, which get better as they are integrated.)
First of all, Amazon doesn't get a very high percentage of affiliate tagged traffic/purchases. If every ISP would do this, it would get 100% and the whole business model wouldn't work any more. Amazon would have to pay out way too many affiliate bonuses. Second, any affiliate that the user might choose, would lose out because their tag would get replaced by that of the ISP.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
I don't know what the exact laws on net neutrality is where this happened. However, if an ISP were to do this in the Netherlands, they would get hit with fraud, net neutrality and "criminal organization" charges. You'd have to have some pretty good lawyers to be able to stay in business at all
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
WHEN you can prove my points wrong validly? I *might* think about it (however, I know damn WELL you can't... & of course, so do you).
* :)
YOU? Fail... lol!
APK
P.S.=> Seriously - how PITIFUL of a troll are you? Reduced to downmodding my post by logging out of your registered luser account after doing so, & trolling me by AC posts afterwards?? Please - YOU ought to take your own advice...
... apk
Did will the isp renew his contract now knowing he is 'trouble'?
All bow and worship before the magical hand for the free market.
To be clear, the ISP has committed a criminal act (fraud), it is obtaining financial gain by deception - the concealment of the fact that no person willingly used an affiliate link.
I think that if they weren't prosecuted then they committed a crime and got away with it. The victims being the retailers and any legitimate affiliates who lost out (if that is the case).
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
Well, I like to use Slashdot as a filter to make sure I didn't miss anything. It may not post the fastest, but generally it covers most things.
There appears to now be a similar, open-source DNS benchmarking program available: namebench. I haven't tried it out, but it looks promising.
I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
Am i the only one who does not understand what exactly happened here? They add some id to the url, what value exactly does this add to the ISP? What is an affiliate id? Why were the retailers pissed off? I don't understand the business of this.
CDN's don't base the DNS server you use as the basis for decided where to serve content,
*they base it on the destination IP address (i.e. your computer)*
They couldn't use DNS servers simply because large ISP's like AT&T or Comcast all use the same DNS server IP addresses.
I read the first couple of paragraphs at the link given and I still do NOT know what the ISP did.
Fata viam invenient.
How is it possible, that this post was modded Funny? Slashdot is exactly what this post describes. Slashdot is mainly great because of great comments and well done comment rating system.
It's funny, because the great comment/discussion you're talking about has been going downhill for a very long time. Just look at the first post on this topic, for a case in point.
Sure, if by "great" you mean "above tabloids".
Don't get me wrong. The comments ARE the primary reason to come here, but let's not kid ourselves. Sturgeon's law is well and alive here.
Anyone can get Comcast. I imagine you might be unwilling to do what it takes, namely to move into Comcast's service area. (References: move; ; move)
If it's going downhill, it's because of people like you claiming it's going downhill. Congrats, you're the problem.
Only reason I'm looking at it is because I browse at -1. So looks to be functioning just fine.
I admit that my comment was not perfectly rigorous. Category 1 can't read my assertion anyway, and category 2 can be fixed by adding "or foreign counterparts" where appropriate.
For added speed, security, reliability, & anonymity (i.e. -> ubiquitous versatility vs. INTENTIONALLY default crippled functionality):
1.) They don't block rogue DNS malware makers use - hosts do.
2.) They don't block known sites/servers of malware/malicious scripts - hosts do.
3.) They don't speed up FAVORITE sites - hosts do
4.) They ONLY work on Mozilla products (browser/email), hosts work on ANY webbound app & multiplatform.
5.) They can't protect external to FireFox email programs, hosts do (OUTLOOK, Eudora, etc.)
6.) They can't blow past DNSBL's - hosts do.
7.) They can't avoid DNS requestlogs - hosts do.
8.) They can't protect vs. DOWNED or "DNS-poisoned" redirected DNS servers - hosts do.
9.) They don't protect vs. "FastFlux" botnets - hosts do
10.) Hosts = EASIER to self-manage: Textfile edit!
11.) Hosts operate LONG before REDUNDANT plugins (& ON MORE + do more)
12.) Plugins slowdown browsers (a message passing fact) - Stack a few up & see. Hosts, don't + operate in a far faster ring of privelege operation (ring 0/rpl 0/kernelmode, not slower ring 3/rpl 3/usermode as browsers & their addons do) starting up w\ OS + IP stack.
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(This isn't "english class": That's off-topic + bs "you're a diff. ac". You're can't validly disprove me)
* You're outnumbered ~ 20++:1 - "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!" (as this tears your bs up).
APK
P.S.=> YOUR "points" = shot down (& agree w/ mine so "you're bored" = You're beaten):
A.) My hosts file = NEVER "out of date" due to my program!
B.) AdBlock doesn't block all ads by default
C.) Ghostery + AdBlock's = advertiser OWNED foxes in a henhouse & crippled + LIMITED vs. hosts
D.) "Finesse" != regexp (harder) vs. hosts file line edits (easy).
E.) RequestPolicy = limited vs. hosts per my last posts' links (& all 3 are limited or crippled + advertiser funded),
F.) Ads blocking a page? That holds down redundant limited addons too (webbug)
G.) + DNS = LOADED w/ bugs & flaws hosts overcome (with less complexity)...
...apk
Question:
How is it possible, that this post was modded Funny?
Answer:
Slashdot is mainly great because of well done comment rating system.
Lol, this one should have been modded funny.
You will not be surprised (if you've been here a while) to learn that Slashdot doesn't have DNSSEC.
I'm not surprised in the least, given that Slashdot offers HTTPS protection of the session cookie only to subscribers.
On a technical level that are in favor of hosts vs. DNS &/or AdBlock http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4616529&cid=45838921
* :)
(That means you FAIL, troll... period)
APK
P.S.=> However, I certainly DUSTED yours in my p.s. there as well, easily... & you're just MAKING me have to say you (you know that, don't you?):
THIS? This was just "too, Too, TOO EASY - just '2ez'" - & it always IS (especially vs. technically weak trolls such as yourself)...
... apk