Is DNS Redirection a Network Neutrality Violation? - As usual, it depends who you ask....

We've been talking a lot lately about DNS redirection services, which eliminate the traditional page not found error and replace it with an ad-laden search portal, so that ISPs can make a buck off of mistyped URLs. Already in use by Cox, Charter and Earthlink, we were the first to report that Verizon, Time Warner Cable, RCN, Embarq and Insight broadband have also just started using the tactic.

The practice annoys many users because it breaks core Internet functionality for many applications and tools -- but is interfering with DNS a network neutrality violation? Are ISP search portals that might skew search results in favor of marketing partners? Princeton professor Ed Felten certainly thinks so:

Verizon’s actions have two effects. The obvious effect is to drive traffic from the search engines users chose to Verizon’s own search engine. That harms users (by overriding their choices) and harms browser vendors (by degrading their users’ experiences). The less obvious effect is to break some other applications.

Felten doesn't mention that most ISPs can defend the neutrality charge by claiming the service is "opt-out." Techdirt doesn't think it's a neutrality violation, as users have the right to use alternative DNS servers:

it's worth keeping in mind that you're not required to use your ISP's DNS server at all. ISPs provide DNS servers as a courtesy, the same way they might provide you with a free email account. But you don't have to use it. You're free to point your computer to another DNS server, such as OpenDNS, just as you can use a third-party email service such as GMail. And if you do that, the settings of Verizon's DNS server won't affect you at all.

We've talked to countless ISP engineers who say they hate the idea, but it was hoisted upon them by higher level management. Marketing departments, ever eager to please investors with a new revenue stream, believe that the folks who complain about this practice are simply a niche contingent of fringe users not worth paying attention to.

It does seem to us that if we're willing to write off every connection degradation as a minor annoyance of no import in the neutrality debate (port blocking, traffic shaping, DNS redirection), we'll be sure to have largely crippled and ad-slathered connectivity in no time. Still, whether it's a network neutrality violation or not, such "services" are little more than money grabs, and should be opt-in.