[LINK] Complaint to Min Communications re Telstra's redirection

[Stilgherrian]

[Telstra's redirection of www.caseydonovan.com to cover their mistake 
with their Australian idol advertising has incensed me to the point 
that I've made a formal complaint to the Minister. I'll post any 
response here. Comments greatly appreciated, one way or the other. 
And of course any support would be appreciated too! -- Stil.]


                                                   23 November 2004

Senator the Hon Helen Coonan
Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
Parliament House
Canberra

fax 02 6273 4154

     Telstra's illegal redirection of www.caseydonovan.com:
     request for investigation

Good afternoon Senator,

I write to express my outrage that Telstra Corporation Limited is 
re-directing Internet requests for the domain www.caseydonovan.com to 
cover its embarrassing mistake earlier this week. Such interference 
with the basic infrastructure of the Internet sets a dangerous 
precedent and is probably illegal.

I request that the Minister directs Telstra to cease this 
interference, and to seek legal advice as to whether criminal charges 
should be laid against those who sanctioned it.

Yesterday, Telstra BigPond placed newspaper advertisements in 
Sydney's "Daily Telegraph" and Melbourne's "Sun Herald", 
congratulating the winner of Australian Idol, Casey Donovan. Due to 
an unfortunate error, instead of giving the correct website address 
www.caseydonovan.com.au, the advertisements carried the address 
www.caseydonovan.com, which is a website belonging to New Millennium 
Video of Woburn, Massachusetts.

To cover up its mistake, BigPond customers who request 
www.caseydonovan.com are now being re-directed to a Telstra BigPond 
web page which in turns directs them to www.caseydonovan.com.au.

In other words, to protect their commercial interests, Telstra is 
deliberately interfering with the delivery of someone else's website 
-- presumably without their permission. And they're doing so by 
subverting a fundamental technical mechanism of the Internet.

Telstra is causing the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) to deliver 
incorrect data. That is, when an BigPond user's web browser is 
looking up the Internet Protocol (IP) address for the domain 
www.caseydonovan.com, instead of being given the correct address 
198.104.148.252, they're instead being told it's 144.135.19.91 -- a 
web server belonging to Telstra BigPond.

This kind of redirection is extremely dangerous. The Internet relies 
on a properly-functioning DNS to ensure that website and other 
requests are directed to the correct server.

For example, an Internet banking user who enters www.stgeorge.com.au 
is relying on DNS to ensure that the website into which they enter 
their username and password is indeed their bank's and not that of a 
criminal. For this reason, DNS servers are some of the most 
frequently attacked servers on the Internet. Protecting the integrity 
of DNS is vital for Internet security.

DNS is as important to the Internet as lighthouses, satellite 
navigation and other such aids are to shipping and aviation. Perhaps 
more so, as ships and aircraft often have other means of determining 
their location -- even just looking out the window. Internet users 
only have DNS.

Telstra's actions indicate that they are willing to subvert this 
vital "navigation system" simply to meet a commercial imperative and 
cover an embarrassing mistake.

This is of particular concern because Telstra is charged with the 
responsibility of running one of the DNS "root servers" -- the 
servers which all others rely upon for accurate information.

Telstra's actions set a dangerous precedent:

   * Instead of DNS being treated as a vital "navigation aid"
     whose integrity must be protected at all times, DNS is now
     being treated as something which may be manipulated for
     commercial reasons.

   * It implies that an Internet Service Provider may choose to
     divert users from viewing material which it doesn't want them
     to see. In this case, even users who do want to visit the
     American website are instead shown Telstra's promotion for
     Australian Idol. This is no different from diverting requests
     to see the websites of Optus or Vodaphone or Telstra's other
     competitors to Telstra's own website.

   * It implies that it's permissible to add your own advertising
     to another business' website without their approval. This
     makes it much more difficult to combat "spyware" and other
     such malicious software which subverts web browsing.

In their defence, Telstra will doubtless make much of the fact that 
www.caseydonovan.com is the website of an American gay pornography 
star, and that their actions are to "protect the children" who are 
looking for their Australian Idol. This is irrelevant. The US website 
has not been found to be unlawful, and Telstra has no right to 
interfere with its traffic.

My attention has also been drawn to Section 85ZD of the Crimes Act 
1914, which states:

     Wrongful delivery of communications

     A person shall not intentionally cause a communication in the
     course of telecommunications carriage to be received by a
     person or carriage service other than the person or service to
     whom it is directed.

     Penalty: Imprisonment for 1 year.

Telstra's breach here is clear. If a user types www.caseydonovan.com 
into their web browser, then that's the website to which they should 
be connected. Telstra has no right or authority to decide that the 
user "really meant" www.caseydonovan.com.au.

If you need any further information, please feel free to contact me 
via phone or email.

Regards,


Stilgherrian

cc:
Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy, fax 02 6277 3317
Senator the Hon Bob Brown, fax 02 6277 3185
Senator the Hon John Curry, fax 02 6277 3728


-- 
Stilgherrian <stil at stilgherrian.com> http://www.stilgherrian.com/
Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia. ABN 25 231 641 421
mobile 0407 623 600 (international +61 407 623 600)
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