# Automatically redirecting web sites
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 2, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105 "2004-05-02T04:21:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105/1 "2004-05-02T04:21:18Z")
It bothers me that, when I type in certain URLs, I am automatically sent to a different site. For example, when I type [google.com](http://google.com) I wind up at google.ca. The same thing happens when I type or click on [http://movies.yahoo.com/](http://movies.yahoo.com/). I wind up at Yahoo Movies Canada.
It bothers me for two reasons.
1. My choice has been taken away
2. I actually prefer being at the core site if for no other reason that then I am assured to get a non-Canadian (and hence more universal or at least less parochial) perspective on whatever it is I’m looking for
My question is this:
Who is responsible for this usurpation of the URL. Is it my ISP’s doing or is it the result of the target site automatically redirecting me to its country-specific sub-site when it determines where I’m from?
I suppose a second question is whether there’s any way around this.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105/2 "2004-05-02T04:23:35Z")
The person responsible is the operator of the website (Yahoo and Google in these cases) who guess from your IP address that you are located in Canada, and send a redirect to their Canada-specific site.
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### Author:  [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2004, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105/3 "2004-05-03T12:10:17Z")
is there any way to stop it? Sometimes I go to what I think is an innocent site only to be redirected to a sex site. Will turning off java, javascript do, or there a browser that will ask first?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105/4 "2004-05-03T12:21:32Z")
The redirection by Google is just their way of managing load; if it comes from a Canadian address, then it gets sent to the Canadian servers. I doubt there is any difference in content.
For the porn sites, there are two options: if this happens occasionally, they are probably “typo” sites – a lot of porn sites use names that are close to legit sites (e.g., [htomail.com](http://htomail.com) ), figuring that they’d get traffic from people who misstype. The only solution is to make sure everything is typed correctly.
If you consistenly go to porn sites and you know you haven’t misstyped, it’s the sign of a browser hijacker. Search for Ad-Aware or Spybot S&D and download, install, update, and run the software.
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### Author:  [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105/5 "2004-05-04T10:35:07Z")
The javascript redirect “document.location.href = http…” can be stopped by turning off javascript, if that is possible in your browser. Turning off java, activex should also help.
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### Author:  [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105/6 "2004-05-04T12:15:18Z")
Where Google is concerned, I am pretty sure you will get exactly the same search results whether it’s [google.com](http://google.com) or google.ca or (here) google.com.hk. But the paid -for advertising that appears on the side of the screen will be tailored for the local audience. Some sites (like the Financial Times) seem to direct you to a regional page in a misguided attempt to be relevant or useful, but you can go to the real central home page with a click of the mouse.
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### Author:  [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automatically-redirecting-web-sites/243105/7 "2004-05-04T12:19:01Z")
What about the \ redirect? Is there anyway of avoiding that?
Grim