Service providers re-direct typos

Verizon Communications has defended its practice of re-directing misspelled Internet addresses to its own search page. The company recently was criticized for doing so, but several ISPs do the same thing, and other telcos and cable TV companies are said to be testing this practice.

This is one of the Internet's loopholes. Some quick-thinking entrepreneurs already make money by owning URLs strikingly similar to commonly-sought Web site addresses, so why can't service providers get in on the game?

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