My ISP is DNS Error Adserving on MY unused subdomains!
Do you believe this?
First I read this article in the Washington Post about DNS Error Redirection and the insecurity of it since the ads are served by a third party, resulting in all kinds of security issues. They say the security issues are fixed. There are, however, other ramifications to this.
In reading the article further down, it mentioned that SUBDOMAIN errors are also redirected by some ISPs. Earthlink was mentioned, as were Verizon and QWest, though I’m sure there are others doing this as well. So I tried typing in blah.kickasswebdesign.com and sure enough, MY OWN ISP WAS STEALING MY TRAFFIC.
I did get it fixed, but because I’m on two different shared servers with multiple domains, I had to have the hosting guys at both hosting companies fix it for each domain. It apparently has to be fixed by a DNS entry and a change in httpd.config, which, if you’re on shared hosting, is usually not within your control, or at least it isn’t within the scope of my current skills. If you’re on shared hosting, ask your support person to redirect wildcard subdomains to your domain. If you have active subdomains, I would mention that as well.
This is an issue from a lot of perspectives. Someone who, for instance, mistypes www. as ww. will get sent to an ad laden dns error page, which may lead them to think you’re out of business. Also, if they pick up a virus or fall prey to a phishing scam while trying to access your domain it could leave a really bad taste in their mouth. And that’s YOUR traffic that is fattening the wallet of your ISP, the one you pay (way too much) money to every month.
And I’ve gotta say I’m really PISSED OFF at Earthlink for this. I know they’re a public company who has to garner as many income streams as possible to placate shareholders, but this is not the way to do it. This will piss off any customer who has a website and who works hard to generate traffic. And pissed off people generate bad press in the blogosphere. HEAR ME, EARTHLINK????
So the bottom line is that from now on, every domain I activate has this wildcard subdomain redirect put in place at the beginning as part of my checklist of things that need doing to ensure the success of my new website. I suggest you do the same.
Technorati Tags: Earthlink, Verizon, QWest, Subdomain DNS Error Redirection
