Verizon tinkers with dns & search settings

Overrides Internet Searches With Its Own Results

by Martin H. Bosworth, November 3, 2007

Subscribers to Verizon’s high-powered fiber-optic Internet service (FiOS) are reporting that when they mistype a Web site address, they get redirected to Verizon’s own search engine page — even if they don’t have Verizon’s search page set as their default.

“It was the very first thing I noticed when Verizon finally got FiOS installed here the other day. Very annoying and hardly in the spirit of net neutrality, eh?,” wrote one Webmaster World user, who originally had Google set as his default search engine.

Technology forums such as Broadband Reports and WebMasterWorld are reporting that Verizon has now extended its “Advanced Web Search” feature to FiOS subscribers in Maryland and Virginia as well.

If you don’t want to have your search results interfered with, Verizon has set up an “opt out” procedure to reset your DNS settings. Make sure to follow the directions carefully and run several test searches with mistyped addresses to make sure you get the right–or wrong, in this case–result.

In order to redirect the user to the search sites, the user’s Domain Name Service (DNS) settings are altered, which can interfere with previously set network security and safe Internet browsing features.

It also raises the question of whether or not an Internet provider that automatically redirects a user’s searches without telling them will also shape the results they do get, such as filtering their searches to get specific results.

Preferential results from Internet providers is a prime concern for supporters of “net neutrality,” the principle that all content on the Internet should be accessesd freely and equally. Supporters of net neutrality believe that Internet providers may redirect users from their preferred Web pages or content to content the provider favors–such as redirecting a user from Google’s search page to Verizon’s.

Although Verizon opposes net neutrality, it has also said repeatedly that it would not block content or favor its own offerings over rivals–although it now appears to be doing just that.

The telecom giant recently got into hot water over its blocking of text messages from abortion rights group NARAL, leading to a quick reversal.

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