This has been driving me nuts for a few months, and I finally got to the bottom of it. I have Live search as my default in Internet Explorer 8. To be honest, I use both Live and Google on a regular basis, they both do great things for me.
Anyway, if I search from the search node [CTRL]+E everything works fine.
If I search from the Address bar [CTRL]+D and I have Live search as the default search provider, then Cox hijacks the search, and shows me a Yahoo search, that is branded by Cox.
There isn’t anything in me that thinks this is ok. Is it possible that Microsoft and Cox Cable have an agreement that let’s them do this, or are they just being shifty?
If a picture is worth a 1000 words, then this video is priceless.
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Cox Cable Redirecting (Stealing???) Microsoft Live Searches???Runtime: 4 Minutes - Resolution: 900X580 - File Size: 10 Meg
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23 comment(s)
In my opinion, there is no "agreement" needed. What happens from your search bar is a matter of your decision. What happens from your address bar is a matter of protocol and subject to the market decisions of your ISP. From the address bar, you are directly querying the search provider. From the address bar, you are providing the exact "address" you want. Obviously the browsers try to resolve your query in the address bar as a valid location. When that fails, it can return that result back to the browser, and your browser can be configured to handle that by turning it around into a search request instead. If Cox wishes to capitalize on failed address resolution and return results, I'm fine with them "trying" it. However, just like everything else in business, if your customer complain its probably not a good idea.
I don't see this as a legal matter, IMHO. I simply see it as a business decision. Cox will find out if enough customers are upset to identify it as a good or bad business decision.
Tobin,
After thinking about what you wrote, I think I agree with you. The address bar should be left up to the provider to decide what do you.
BUT .... I'm not in fact getting a failed response. I'm getting a logit response from Live Search, and the content is being altered.
AND .... they are only targeting Microsoft Live Search. Why do they not capture the Google Searches?
Thinking about this more, I still agree the ISP should be able to handle failed searches. Kind of like I handle my site 404's with a nice "Did you mean..." page, instead of a blank error page.
But this get's to me because it's not a failed or error page. They are literally stealing search bar traffic, modifying the content, and then client side redirecting me. In fact, if I watch the screen for a second the Live.com search results actually appear, and then are replaced with the Finder.Cox.Net results.
It's just not right.
My opinion is that the ISP has no business handling any request of any kind. It's bad enough that Cox blocks certain ports, preventing customers from certain activities, but the fact that they are proactively interfering with users' browsing experience is unacceptable to me. It's a slippery slope toward filtering out what sites they allow you to see, or maintaining a database of browsing history per customer (which wouldn't surprise me if they already do).
Thanks for the information - I'll make sure I pass on my opinion to them.
I've heard this happening with other providers now as well (Qwest, Verizon). I think the ISP should respect the wishes of the user. They are not honoring your settings, and they are hijacking traffic by DNS sniffing. And their replaced results looked poor.
I tested this hijacked Live search thing with my home ISP Time Warner Cable's RoadRunner (North Carolina) and it's doing the same exact thing. It too is returning a wrapped Yahoo! search result set.
I'll just add this to the list of why I prefer Firefox.
I wonder if Yahoo has approched the ISP's with $$$ and saying, here if you simply do this .... here's a check. Just an idea.
Well just so you guys know there is way to OPT out of the Cox Seach I posted in the link below.
support.cox.com/.../contentredirect
This also happens with OpenDNS, and Time Warner cable here in Cleveland.
Rick -- sorry, but that's not much of an OPT out. First, it's wrong and second it isn't listed as a link to opt out in the results that Scott is presented with.
Labeling it as an OPT out of "enhanced error results" is a bunch of bullcrap. They aren't error results. He executed a search to his chosen provider...last time I checked NOT A SINGLE SEARCH ENGINE shows an error page when searching for something.
It's crap.
Oh and those opt-out instructions...um yeah, my mother-in-law would faint if she had to walk through changing her DNS settings...
It's not an error page, it's theft. I guess there is someone at Cox (or many ISP's) that think they have the right to hijack traffic from the address bar, but not the search bar. AND ... they only target IE, because IE is the only one nice enough to modify the query string with an address bar source.
I wonder if there is a registry setting to avoid adding the address bar course.
Watch the video at 2:14, and you'll see the IE-Address tag that is added to the URL.
This sucks so completely bad. I don't use IE so I've not seen it, but I wonder how long before they target this in other browsers too?
Not cool.
It does suck. An alternative viewpoint: I don't ever use the address bar for searches. It just seems sloppy to me to do that. After all, it's called an ADDRESS BAR. Simple fix: Use the search bar. That's what it's for. Then if your ISP starts stealing THAT traffic, we can really get people in an uproar.
Interesting catch. I've not seen this behavior, but I did have my DNS set manually due to issues with my old D-Link passing the information to the network. I have a new router now... I'll see if I can replicate it here.
It can happen for any browser on Cox. Do a search for the euphemism "enhanced error returns" and you'll see that they're actually testing a DNS hijack in an attempt to ease the web user experience (and presumably generate ad revenue). The problem with redirecting a DNS "not found" to a web page is that other Internet clients like VPNs will often get confused by the present-yet-not-responsive resolution and hang.
that link Rick Russell posted support.cox.com/.../contentredirect
it does work Thank you Russell
Scott,
I know that this post is almost a year old, but I wanted to provide some information to you about your experience. I believe that what is happening is really a problem with the browser itself and not a problem with cox in any way. one Cox does have the right to provide what information it will provide when you use their DNS service.
You can switch to a different DNS provide such as opendns which provides a free account and the ability to blacklist/whitlist domains and ip addresses. Another alternative is to run your very own DNS server on your computer and use it. The DNS protocol ensures that your DNS server will connect to the ROOT servers directly to get address of any domain on the web.
As for your IE acting all squirrely I've had instances with my FF where I click one link and then before the page can load I click on another link to a different site. while the second click bring up the site, if I hit the back button it goes to the site of the first link I clicked even though it didn't show it. it usually occurs when viewing google anb if I click on a link and it's slow I click on the next site to bring it up instead. I think this same sort of thing _may_ be happening with your IE in that it is getting a failed message from Cox, and the flash of MSN live you see then gets over written by the Cox finder page. I think this is a problem with IE not closing the connection to cox before starting a new connection to MSN Live. Since it's still connected when the Msn data comes through when IE closes the connection to it, it then closes the connection to cox and processes the data from that connection. when that happens, see if clicking the back button bring up msn or if it goes back to the page before you pressed enter on the address bar.
Granville
i have the same problem on IE and firefox, google is set as default on every search option, this happened after switching from a G to an N router
They call it "enhanced service". It is enhanced so they can make a profit on people's ignorance. If they make money on it (from Yahoo Marketing) it should be passed on to the consumer: class action suit! Keep the Internet free of interference: equal access!
Chrome is doing it to. Chrome, you are supposed to be able to use the address bar for searching. I always laughed at the people who had some browser hijacking search feature malware (ala "my web search"). Now I have one I pay a hundred dollars a month for. Thanks Cocks! So long internet, we'll miss you!
This happens to me at home in both IE and Firefox, but it is not when I do searches. I hit my bookmark for the library, and it came up saying it could not find the page and listed advertisements. When I typed in googlebooks, it had Amazon listed on the page!
I browse with Firefox and I used the link Rick posted and now it works the way it used to.
I'm a Cox subscriber and was just trying to get onto my_own_domain.tld which is hosted at a third-party provider. I mean different host, different registrar, different nameserver, etc. I accidentally entered an incorrect subdomain.my_own_domain.tld and got the Cox page. My mind raced as I tried to figure out why my own 404 page didn't appear and how Cox could possibly be involved. It occurred to me that I don't have a custom 404 page for failed subdomain queries and Cox must have intercepted the request at the DNS to return their own. A quick Google led me here. I'm still a little confused because I have never seen this Cox page before now, and I'm surfing 20 hours per day mostly for work/development.
Anyway, I can confirm that Rick Russell's link to the Cox Support page is good. It says it's for Vista, but ignore that. In whatever OS you use, just set the specific primary/alternate DNS they provide, rather than letting Cox automatically assign it and you'll get good ol'fashioned 404 goodness, just the way it should be.
Thanks to all who've commented here - this is a great example of how the 'net should work.