A new feature introduced by Virgin Media for their broadband connections is the “Advanced Network Error Search”. This responds to DNS queries for nonexistent domains with a false result which redirects the browser to a Virgin/Yahoo search page, instead of producing an RFC-compliant no-such-domain result.

Although the intention here is to help the end user [1], the service is opt-out and will no doubt have some unintended consequences. An analogy can be made to giving way to bicycles which have no right of way (another activity which raises my ire). The smooth running of the roads depend on all road users having predictable behaviour which follows the rules. Being extra helpful in a way that is contrary to protocol typically backfires and reduces the overall quality of the service.

Virgin should be good network users and follow the protocol. If clients want friendly search they can implement it in their user-agent (c.f. Firefox’s awesomebar), without disregarding the rules and good manners which make the remarkable interoperability of the internet possible.

[1] And make Virgin Media bags of cash from advertising