Earthlink DNS Hijack

Remember that terrible, awful time three years ago when Verisign broke the Internet? Well, looks like Earthlink has gone and done the same thing. Earthlink has started intercepting Internet host name lookups. When a lookup fails (host does not exist), they are replacing the failure response with one that points to their own web site.

The funny thing is that when Verisign did it, Earthlink didn't much like it. As I noted back then, Earthlink took steps to neutralize the Verisign redirects. It appears, however, they seem to have changed their mind on the matter. It's still a bad idea technically, but they seem to be willing to do it now that the money for advertisements served goes into their pocket.

The good news is that I just chatted with Earthlink support and found that there is a workaround available. I was told to use the DNS servers at 207.69.188.171 and 207.69.188.172. I will have to reconfigure my router to do so, at least as an interim measure.

Although there is a workaround, I'm not pleased. This is information that the network should set automatically. It's a hassle to override the automatic settings. Also, this makes my connection more susceptible to network changes. So, long term, I'm seriously considering whether we should switch our service to another broadband provider.