About a year ago, we provided an exclusive report about how Qwest and Mediacom were intercepting customer website requests when typos occurred. They would provide the customer with paid ads, rather than legitimate search results.
Poor Partnership. It appears that recently Mediacom and Qwest (now CenturyLink) have stooped to a new low. Despite the advertising that states they are family friendly, when family members type incorrect website addresses, they may get links to mature content websites. Shown below are examples of typing in the word “you” in your website browser address bar and pressing enter. In both examples, Mediacom and Centurylink have as the third or fourth option down a site that would normally be filtered out by Google or other search engines.
Default Google Search for “You”
Filters Questionable Content (below)
CenturyLink Search for “You”
Includes Mature Content in Results (below)
Mediacom Search on “You”
Includes Mature Content (below)
Mediacom goes so far as to establish what appears to be an affiliate link with the site shown above. Hovering over the link reveals that Mediacom doesn’t send people directly to the site, but has them go through a link tracking mechanism. This shows up in the gray status area. So, it would appear that Mediacom is making money off of customer typos.
Family Friendly. Mediacom uses family images in their advertising (like the ones shown at the top of this page) and language that suggest their services are safe for the entire family. Their website includes in the name “Family Cable” and this shows up on their site as well as in Google searches. Yes, as can be seen above, their Internet service is far from family friendly.
