We've all experienced frustration with the internet going down. Now imagine how frustrated you'd be if you found out that your ISP intentionally blocked your internet access for the purpose of advertising their software; and better yet, your ISP claimed that state legislators required them to do it! Well that's exactly what is happening to CenturyLink customers in Utah right now.

Just had @CenturyLink block my internet and then inject this page into my browser (dns spoofing I think) to advertise their paid filtering software to me. Clicking OK on the notice then restored my internet... this is NOT okay! pic.twitter.com/NtCZUeJF8I — Rich Snapp (@Snapwich) December 9, 2018

A few days ago while watching TV through my FireTV the stream unexpectedly went black. After trying to debug the issue for a bit with no success I went to my computer, which was still connected to my ISP, but was also experiencing a strange lack of internet. Eventually I turned to a Google search on my phone only to be immediately greeted with an official looking notice.

At first glance I was worried that I had somehow been redirected to a malicious website and that this was some kind of phishing attempt... After all, I didn't navigate here. I attempted to do another search but still ended up at this same notice. I considered the idea that maybe my ISP had detected some kind of threat coming from my network and that's why I was seeing this official looking page. Eventually, after reading over the page several times, I clicked "OK" and my internet was back.

Your Internet service has been fully restored ... Thanks for your business. CenturyLink High-Speed Internet

What...? I went to the page CenturyLink referred to in the notice so I could see what was so important that it necessitated blocking me from the internet.

Centurylink @Ease puts the best names in computer security to work for you – industry leaders like Norton for AntiVirus protection and Identity Guard to help protect your identity.



$5 off per month for the first two months!

It was an advertisement for security products! ...and not very good ones...

I went to Twitter to see if I was the only one having this very bizarre experience and it turns out I was not alone. Fellow Utahns were also expressing their discontent with CenturyLink's behavior.

It’s always a fun day when @centurylink blocks your internet access until you go to troubleshoot the problem and are forced to read a letter about filtering services they offer before they will restore your internet. Wow what a cool way to hold us hostage! Total bullshit. — Chryshele Cottle (@Maccagirl1) December 9, 2018

@CenturyLink dont disable my damn internet to send me a message about software to block my kid from harmful sites. You know what blocks my kid from harmful sites? Me! Not some bloatware. — 🎃XxCrispxX🎃 (@XxCrispXzero5xX) December 9, 2018

Eventually I stumbled upon a reddit thread, "Any century link customers lose internet until you read the filter message?", and discovered this behavior has been going on for quite some time with users mentioning it had also happened to them in the previous weeks. One of the reddit users specifically pointed out that this was most likely a "ham-fisted" approach by CenturyLink to comply with the provisions in S.B. 134.

(b) (i) A service provider shall, before December 30, 2018, notify in a conspicuous manner all of the service provider's consumers with a Utah residential address that the consumer may request material harmful to minors be blocked under Subsection (1)(a). (ii) A service provider may provide the notice described in Subsection (2)(b)(i): (A) by electronic communication; (B) with a consumer's bill; or (C) in another conspicuous manner. Relevant excerpt from Utah S.B. 134

Now I finally realized what was going on. CenturyLink was using the unethical practice of DNS Hijacking to push notifications (or in this case, advertisements) of products to customers and using Utah law as justification. For the lucky customers, they'll only have their internet browsing session interrupted for no reason, acknowledge they saw the ad, and move on. If they're using a streaming device, such as a FireTV or Chromecast, they'll have their video stop and receive no notification. If you're browsing the internet on a device not using CenturyLink's DNS (maybe using GoogleDNS or OpenDNS), your internet will stop working, you'll see no notice, and you'll either waste time debugging the issue (like me) or give up and waste hours talking to CenturyLink support.

Curious if this is really what Utah legislators were intending, I reached out to the listed sponsor of the bill on twitter.

I have yet to see an internet response that appreciates them doing this, but I see a lot of angry and upset people on twitter and reddit. This is such a terribly dumb idea, was this the intent of your bill? — Rich Snapp (@Snapwich) December 10, 2018

I’m sorry you are having problems. SB134 did not require that — and no other ISP has done that to comply with the law. They were only required to notify customers of options via email or with an invoice. — Todd Weiler (@gopTODD) December 10, 2018

CenturyLink is much less helpful on twitter, replying to any comments on this shady behavior with what is most likely their contextually unaware automated customer service bots.

Where I go from here, I'm not sure. I would switch ISPs but I have no other options where I live. Hopefully making this issue more public will help CenturyLink make better decisions, but when you consider our administration's successful repeal of net neutrality late last year, we'll probably just need to start accepting this kind of behavior as the new norm.