• Bill Hartzer , Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12 PM

When Webmasters try to capitalize on domain name typos or 404 not found pages by redirecting users to landing pages stuffed with ads, they're dropped, blacklisted, or otherwise penalized by the search engines. But when ISPs like Time Warner do it themselves, the search engines are cut out of the mix--and there are no other authorities available to prevent them from raking in the extra (tainted) dough.

Bill Hartzer illustrates how Time Warner is profiting from typo-jacking, as the telecom giant's Road Runner service redirects unsuspecting users to a branded search page with tons of ads above the fold. Time Warner gets paid if users click on the ads--and even if they don't, users are still paying monthly fees for Internet access. It's a win-win for the giant--and sneaky move that Hartzer argues is unethical at best.

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