ISP hijacks customers' HTML stream

Something doesn't seem quite right with that screengrab. If it was Google Canada, the url would say google.ca. Here in Canada, even if you type google.com, it automatically changes to google.ca once you hit enter.
I'm willing to bet that this will only happen with the "Rogers" version of google page... similar to the special google page that comes up when you install Firefox.

Ad problems? Get Firefox with the Adblock Plus plugin. You can remove any ads on the net. Or switch providers.

Strikes me as a fair idea, so long as it doesn't pretend to be other than what it is. Face it, any ISP using it to advertise is going to find subscribers voting with their feet - and adblockers will soon be updated. If it's used for genuine account information, and (as the screenshot implies) allows opting out, then that sounds quite good use of technology.

I think that the page creators can file copyright suites against any ISP that changes the pages without permission. 

The resulting page would be considered a derivative work in this case if I understand copyright law correctly.

I guess that email thing is just too darn difficult to figure out.

Has anyone looked at how Rogers is using this? It's a warning that the monthly data transfer cap is being approached. This is a great idea and a totally ethical implementation. Which is better, injecting a warning into the 'net stream (being HTML uses very little of the metered bandwidth) or just charging the guy another $1.50/GB? 

Having said that, I'd hate this if it started serving ads. 'though it might be fine for a free/ad-supported net access, since it would eliminate the need for those horrible ad-serving toolbars.

Notice the image shows the user's connection was traffic-limited. I wonder if this "html surplus" is counted towards that limit. That would be fun.

Not to mention that I can foresee this breaking a lot of script-heavy pages.

Why am I even bothered? Ah, I remember waiting for sth... Anyway - dear clowns: The screen shot does NOT show ads but warns the user that his bandwith limit is almost reached (nice 75% of 75GB) and it will incur additional charges above the limit. This is actually good for the user to know who otherwise might run up a lot of cost without knowing. Ok, you disappointed me enough for today...

You can override it easily to google.com.

And switching ISP's isnt easy here.. DSL only goes to 5Mbps for residential users unless you use the telephone company itself which has insanely low limits. That's only if they have actually rolled it out in your area. They took a year to fix my line here to actually get 5Mb and I'm under 2KM from the CO. If you want anything faster, there is generally only 1 cable provider and here it's Rogers.

I switched my parents off from Rogers yesterday to teksavvy. $20 cheaper and none of this stuff. Thankfully they are lucky being closeish to a CO.

I'm not so sure this is a good idea. Although one can opt out, why hijack someone's web site/page that they took so much time/energy/money to produce (without permission, I might add). What happened to getting account info to the customer by way of email, snail mail, or a phone call?

If I load a url into my browser, I want ONLY that site/page and nothing more.

This is bad, very bad for both the web sites and it's visitors.

Mike: I'm in Canada and I use Google.com all the time. It tries to fight back sometimes, but a few cookie deletions (and some typing '.com') later and I'm reliably back on the .com version.

Basically what Rogers has done is admitted that they're no longer to be considered a Common Carrier. This little stunt of theirs removes their protection ('Oh, we're not responsible for what passes over our network. Oh, we're just a Common Carrier...")

If they're going to monitor and modify the traffic that passes over their network, they then assume the liability for everything that happens on their network. The only question becomes, will they get stung by the media conglomerates or the pr0n police first?

PS: My first week on Telus Mobility as my new (high speed!) ISP, I consumed enough data that it would have cost $152,000 from Rogers. Well okay, I exaggerate slighty. Only $91,000 with a Rogers data plan.

@Glenn
AdBlock (or editing the hosts file, etc...) won't work because the web page is altered before it gets to your browser. The ad would appear to come from Google itself. That's precisely why this development is so insidious and troubling. It would be very difficult to develop countermeasures against it.
Google should sue this idiotic Rogers ISP. Nip it in the bud!

You can be sure Rogers is testing the waters for what people will put up with. First a few innocuous customer related messages but then..... So I say 'Pour it on Rogers, the sooner you'll get net neutrality shoved down your throats.

This will go away as soon as some disgruntled worker or hackers makes it display porn. I can see it now... Going to disney.com and getting blasted with boobies

I'd dump that ISP in a flash, in fact I'd prefer to not have any internet at all over inserted crap.
People should not forget that if they don't act then they WILL walk all over you.

Would NoScript stop this from happening?

"You can override it easily to google.com"

Easily? Truly? Deeply? You can narf it up using a proxy server, which is actually a lot of fun if you get one from the old Eastern Bloc or South America. Otherwise I don't see anything "easily" to do, but would *definitely* like a few tips for tippling with SeaMonkey.

There are two primary cable providers here: Rogers and Shaw. I'm on Cogeco, which services an area to the west of Toronto before Rogers takes hold again. So far Cogeco have been blissfully and blessedly transparent. I'm even happy with the downstream throughput for the "average" or "basic" or whatever "normal" residential service I have. Extra normal. Still, if Rogers figures out a way to make buck one, the others will fall in line.

I guess devising a Roger's toolbar or browser plugin for interested subscribers was too difficult for them.

On the flip side it is available for opt-out and it doesn't appear to actually change the google site. Only add in a header like thing above the site.

Makes me wonder though how long until adds start to appear in that ISP message area...after all doesn't every company nowadays cry about how they need more revenue streams and usually bend their customers over to get that added money?



May sound like a good idea, but it has a big potential to be abused.

If the user is close to their download limit, send an email/IM.

>If it was Google Canada, the url would say google.ca.
>Here in Canada, even if you type google.com, it automatically changes to google.ca once you hit enter. 

not necessarily :)
at google.ca look at the bottom of the page
at the small black text links, and you will
see one that says "goto google.com"
if you click that it remembers your selection
for future visits.

I'd have gone with "ISP Rogers Google!"

I saw this a few months ago on userfriendly.org, July 6th to July 11th:
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070706

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070707

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070709