Growing Number Of ISPs Injecting Own Content Into Websites
from the this-is-not-a-good-trend dept
With growing concerns over companies like Phorm and NebuAd enabling ISPs to insert their own ads into your web surfing, some researchers decided to see if this is already happening -- and were surprised to find it more prevalent than they expected. It's still not a huge number, but in tests, they found that there definitely are some ISPs already using such technology to inject ads, though they tend to be smaller "no name" ISPs. The one big exception was XO Communications -- though XO claims that any ad injections must be done by downstream resellers of its wholesale service. Either way, this ought to raise some questions about what rights ISPs have to get in the middle and alter the data that you requested and which was served by a third party.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: ads, clickstream, isps
Companies: nebuad, phorm
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mike
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mike
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Insert Your Ad Here
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Solution:
Flash would also work but this isn't the story to rehash all the reasons why Flash is ass.
It might be possible to script a two-way communication which returns the page source to the site after a page has loaded and if it doesn't match with what was sent, force the user over to an HTTPS connection and splash an explanation that the ISP is interfering with the transmission.
Legally you might be able to fight it with restraint of trade if you can show they're either replacing your ads or unfairly competing (especially if your ad contract includes exclusive sponsorship), but it would be easier to go for the jugular and demand they lose their common carrier status since they're no longer simply a conduit between two points.
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Re: Solution: -- D'oh!
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Why is this a surprise to you, Mike?
But hey, so long as the content is free, right?
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Re: Why is this a surprise to you, Mike?
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Re: Re: Why is this a surprise to you, Mike?
You're kidding, right?
Both are services you pay for.
Both are injecting ads into content you request.
The only difference here is one is targeted, the other is not (yet).
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Re: Re: Re: Why is this a surprise to you, Mike?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Why is this a surprise to you, Mike?
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If as one should suspect a US Federal court finds that because of traffic shaping and content altercation that the ISP are responsible for any and all piracy and child porn which flows through their network then things are going to get real interesting.
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Adblock anyone?
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host file
C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32DRIVERSETCHOSTS
Like for techdirt ads one is 127.0.0.1 static.fmpub.net
No more annoying techdirt flash ad crap.
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Ad agencies are quickly becoming a nemesis on the Internet. We are losing our privacy because of deals between the ISPs and ad companies and now we are losing the right to deliver exclusive content on our sites, because of that same agreement.
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hmm
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Re: hmm
It's worse than that. It's more like the phone company letting telemarketers listen in on and break into your calls with "some really great targeted offers at just the right moment". And then the phone company trying to justify it by saying "It's all OK because we give them the calls anonymously; We don't give them your actual name."
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Why isn't Techdirt serving up its pages over SSL yet?
Quit bitching: Time to fight.
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In all fairness
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