Paxfire
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Paxfire, Inc. is a startup based in Reston, VA founded by Mark Lewyn, a former USA Today tech reporter.
Technology
Paxfire sells "interceptor" technology to various internet service providers as a method of generating additional revenue through unsolicited advertising based on mistyped URLs. By using the Paxfire service, an ISP can redirect all mistyped web queries from its clients to paid advertising sources based on "hotwords". If a user clicks on the sponsored link, Paxfire and the ISP split the revenue.Partners
Due to the unpopular nature of this unsolicited advertising technology, Paxfire is hesitant to release a list of all participating ISPs.Controversy
Paxfire's approach to redirecting unsuspecting web browsers is very similar to other tactics implemented on the client and server sides. Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser would automatically redirect mistyped web URLs to MSN Search, a clear ploy to increase traffic for its unpopular search engine; it is actually possible to configure Explorer to use a different search engine, although not Google, MSN's largest competitor. Top-level domain operator VeriSign added a "Site Finder" service which sent any unmatched domain queries to their own webpage; less than a day later the Internet Software Consortium released a patch to BIND that circumvented VeriSign's advertising ploy.Unlike the Explorer and Site Finder typo exploits, Paxfire's approach cannot be circumvented by using an alternate browser or through the Internet standards community, as the technology lives with the Internet Service Provider. Paxfire claims that there are ways to opt out of this service, unlike the previous "typo squatting" technologies, although the ease of this process would differ from ISP to ISP.
External links
- [Official Homepage]
- [Broken Links Lined With Gold for Paxfire] (Washington Post, 31 January, 2005)
- [The Typo Millionaires] (Slate, 11 February, 2005)
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