OpenDNS stops showing ads

OpenDNS has announced that it will no longer serve ads in its Guide service. This becomes visible when an OpenDNS user enters a non-working or incorrect url. OpenDNS says it will focus entirely on internet security.

OpenDNS lists a number of reasons to stop advertising on the Guide page. Users see this page if they enter a wrong or non-working URL. For example, according to the company, browsers have been improved over the years and, for example, the Omnibox in the Chrome browser often refers the user to Google’s search engine. As a result, the number of visitors to the Guide service steadily decreased.

Another reason OpenDNS mentions to stop showing ads via Guide as of June 6 is that the company wants to focus entirely on the internet security market. Remarkably, OpenDNS states that web advertisements are regularly a vehicle for spreading malware, while the company has served advertisements to its users for years and, in its own words, earns several million dollars a year.

After stopping the Guide service, OpenDNS users will from now on show the screens that browsers normally show when entering a wrong URL, just like internet surfers who use Google’s DNS service, for example. The primary service that OpenDNS wants to continue to monetize is Umbrella. Partly on the basis of the surfing behavior of its fifty million users, various algorithms and other sources are used to determine where potential threats are located.

OpenDNS opened its doors in 2005. The company offers a service for dns servers, an alternative to those of internet providers.