Earthlink’s Nonexistent World Domination
As an Earthlink subscriber I noticed something odd about a month ago. Instead of my normal browser error when I entered a website that doesn’t exist I got redirected to this:
You’ve got to see the page to believe it – advertisements and all. Isn’t this too close to adware or spam? I didn’t ask for this information and I have no way to opt-out of this service but they’d like me to “try the related content suggestions and paid advertisements below.” How kind of them…
This has stirred up quite a bit of controversy.
Update: There is a way to manually configure your computer to use different DNS servers. However, this really isn’t for the common user and sure would add hassle for me as I’d have to change the settings every time I use my laptop somewhere else.
2 Comments
I noticed that too, what really sucks is it seems to overide the Google toolbar for 404s. I think it’s the wave of the future, unfortunately.
What would really be nice is an internet service provider that just connected you to the internet. No fluff, no e-mail addresses, web site space, junk mailers, free software CDs, portal pages, etc. Just a peppy connection to the internet.
This is sort of like your cable company showing you a commercial when you choose a channel on your TV that doesn’t exist or your phone company chiming in a sale pitch when you dial a number that’s not in service.