We fixed a DNS issue that caused non-existent domains to resolve. This happened when “someone” at Metadot reconfigured one of our DNS servers to use OpenDNS as a forwarder. To our surprise Montastic started to alert us of a non-existent domain name being “up and running.” This happened because OpenDNS intercepts all unresolved requests and returns the IP of their server instead of nothing. This violates the DNS protocol.
Why does OpenDNS do this?
To make money. From a practical standpoint, web users misspelling a URL will end up seeing an OpenDNS search page filled with advertising. OpenDNS has contracts with major search engine providers to do this.
Why is this bad?
Resolving non-existing domain names is wrong because it breaks the domain name protocol which is a standard used by hundreds of millions of systems.
On the Internet, network standards must be followed just as driving rules are on the road: most accidents occur when rules are violated.