Some Private Traffic Changed By Internet Service Providers

Seattle (eCanadaNow) - An alarming practice is being highlighted in a new research study being published today.

Researchers with the University of Washington have discovered that some Internet Web Pages are being changed, and their content is being altered without the permission of the owners.  

In a study conducted using about 50,000 computers, test data was sent to customers.  The data was compared with the original information that was set up, to examine if there were any changes in composition, format or source material.

In a small number of cases, Internet Service Providers were found to be inserting advertisements, and web based content to web pages and data being sent. In all cases where this was discovered to have occurred, it was without any knowledge or permission on the part of the authors of the web pages.

The researchers also discovered that some of the ISP’s were making content more vulnerable security wise, by using their software.  The use of some of their ad blocking and web browsing software exposes content to security vulnerabilities that were not present before being affected by software in use by Internet Service Providers.

One exacmple of this was first reported by TechCrunch last year where RedMoon, a small wireless company, was using software to injuect advertisments into the html pages of other websites.

Critics blasted the tactic and worried it would disrupt the integrity of web sites.

The study was co sponsored by the International Computer Science Institute.

“We are discovering that the Internet, the World Wide Web is a lot more wild than we ever expected,” stated study co author Charles Reis.   Reis is also a PhD student at the University Of Washington, studying Computer Science.