Jul 212009
 

In addition to my primary Internet connection, I also use a cable modem for backup, and also for large downloads. Earlier month, I downloaded a fair amount of data.  Today, when I visited Wikipedia (using the Rogers connection), I was confronted with a rather strange message:

Rogers warning

I suppose I should appreciate the warning. I feel a little more ambiguous about the method in which it was delivered: my Web page request was intercepted by a transparent proxy, which then wrapped the page in question inside a frame. Apart from potentially breaking the page (indeed, as a result all links that I clicked on in this page afterward appeared with the Wikipedia URL showing on top) it also raises a whole host of privacy and other issues.

Now in my case, it’s a matter of seconds to switch back to my primary connection, which is straight to a backbone provider (MCI), with no ISP acting as an intermediary. But others may not enjoy the same luxury.

 Posted by at 7:19 pm