Working at an install of Ubuntu 8.0.4, ran into issues with FireFox 3.0.x As it turns out, most of my hair-pulling exercises weren't actually required. My ISP (MediaCom) turned on a 'new' feature .... also done in an opt-out mode. As they still use so much of AT&T's network, it's hard not to guess that this may also spread to (or may already be in use by) other ISPs. As far as I'm concerned, their implementation sucks, it appears massively broken, and the surreptitious opt-out mode is really bad, bad, bad.

The problems I ran into include;

massive timeout period while waiting for a normal 404 error. I'm talking on the order of 3 to 4 minutes before a crummy search-result page ended up displayed.

typically, this lousy search-result page would include the actual URL I typed in/clicked on.

I'm having to guess that my actual browser URL request generated a DNS look-up, this crap 'solution' grabbed that browser request and tried to do its own DNS look-up which failed (perhaps due to simple overload) .... then instead of returning the 40x type error to my browser, it held my connection whilst then trying to build a search-result page to offer alternative suggestions for my apparently mis-typed URL .. assumedly also running into its own DNS look-up issues in trying to build that web-page.

What frigging idiot decided to recreate the NetSol configuration from a few years back that met with so much negativity and was summarily turned off? (Of course, I will note that my first thoughts were leaning towards the PHORM stuff that's been receiving much press the past number of months, primarily in the EU.)

In all fairness, I should once again point out there there was an opt-out selection available, though I'm sure most of you would know how I feel about the opt-out mode for most anything.

Just tossing this out for others ... again, based on that so many other ISPs actually use AT&T's services, backbone, etc.

Absolutely weird .... news seen today ... AT& T, Verizon to Refrain From Tracking Users Online

AT&T and Verizon, two of the nation's leading Internet service providers, pledged yesterday to refrain from tracking customer Web behavior unless they receive explicit permission to do so.
....
AT&T's chief privacy officer Dorothy Attwood made a similar pledge to legislators, and then, taking aim at Google she noted that AT&T's promise to get consumer consent is an advance over others in the industry.
....
Some critics viewed yesterday's announcements skeptically, suggesting that even the stricter "opt in" scheme could pose problems. Mildly worded warnings could lull many people to "opt in" despite the risks, they said.

"What they should be saying is, 'We are going to be collecting every move of your mouse on every Web site on a second-by-second basis.' But that would scare too many people away," said Jeff Chester, of the Center for Digital Democracy. "They're going to craft some kind of proposal that claims to be informed consent but simply gives them political cover while they engage in full frontal behavioral targeting."

So I guess MediaCom is a little more independent from AT&T than may have appeared. Or AT&T tells porkies (lies) - unprecedented!
Yeah, there's a little coterie over at grc newgroups who have been working for ages to overcome Google (and presumably other) 'tagging' or whatever you would want to call it. They get something that works, Google changes something so it doesn't work any more, they get something that now works ... spooky how efficient commerce is getting in separating us from our disposable income plus anything else that can be squeezed (which has to be, always, the bottom line/end purpose), all through the free market and with or without our informed consent. "Home of the brave", certainly (gotta be brave to even bother gnawing through the straps most mornings, it sometimes seems) but "land of the free" is looking a bit debatable. But it's not just the USA of course, you have plenty of company.

Anyway, the point of the post, any with concerns and the technical ability to utilize the solutions should probably keep an eye on grc, if they're not already, as just one source of concentration on the business of "fighting back". I don't follow it so closely myself, being an older person with a permanently pessimistic outlook directly attributable to premature exposure to the story-line of "Soylent Green". I mean, if I'm just going to end up as a few bushels of green biscuits anyway ...