VeriSign backs down - for now [LWN.net]

The September 18 LWN Weekly Edition asked "whose Internet is it?" in response to VeriSign's deployment of its "SiteFinder" service. SiteFinder is an attempt to profit from mistyped domain names; it is implemented as a set of wildcard entries in .com and .net which direct the user to VeriSign's paid index pages. VeriSign's unilateral change broke a number of network services, modified how DNS works with no input from anybody else involved, and raised a great many privacy concerns. Nonetheless, VeriSign seemed determined to weather the storm and keep its changes in place. That is not a surprising position, given that the company expected SiteFinder to generate a revenue stream in the millions of dollars.

Among other things, VeriSign had ignored a request from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to suspend the service. It would seem, however, that ICANN is not entirely without clout - or value. On October 3, ICANN sent a more strongly written letter to VeriSign:

In addition, our review of the .com and .net registry agreements between ICANN and VeriSign leads us to the conclusion that VeriSign's unilateral and unannounced changes to the operation of the .com and .net Top Level Domains are not consistent with material provisions of both agreements....

Given these conclusions, please consider this a formal demand to return the operation of the .com and .net domains to their state before the 15 September changes, pending further technical, operational and legal evaluation. A failure to comply with this demand will require ICANN to take the steps necessary under those agreements to compel compliance with them.

In response, VeriSign grumbled a little, then removed its wildcard entries and turned off the service. However, anybody who thinks that VeriSign has seen the light and realized that, as the steward of a public resource, it needs to act in a more responsible manner would be well advised to read this column by Mark McLaughlin, a VeriSign VP.

ICANN appears to have bought into claims that the Internet has broken or will break. Anyone who has used it in the last three weeks knows that claim to be false. More likely, ICANN caved under the pressure from some in the Internet community for whom this is a technology-religion issue about whether the Internet should be used for these purposes.

The company also had some strong words at the special ICANN meeting held on October 7. Among other things, it said that it may have other surprises to spring on the net in the future. VeriSign, in other words, is absolutely unrepentant. This company's history suggests that it will not give up on the SiteFinder idea anytime soon. At the moment, it appears that the net's governance mechanisms have brought about the right result. But it would be a mistake to assume that this particular episode is over.

VeriSign backs down - for now

Posted Oct 8, 2003 15:54 UTC (Wed) by alspnost (guest, #2763) [Link]

s/whether/weather?

Otherwise, full marks ;-) VeriSign's arrogance is alarming!

VeriSign backs down - for now

Posted Oct 9, 2003 3:36 UTC (Thu) by samj (guest, #7135) [Link] (2 responses)

If you break the road rules they take your license. Hopefully the same will happen here.

I like the way we run the .au domain here in Australia. AusRegistry (http://www.ausregistry.com.au) appear to be doing a good job of maintaining the various 2LDs and provide decent APIs, while the various AuDA (http://www.auda.org.au) .au policies protect domain registrants and trademark/business name owners alike.

VeriSign backs down - for now

Posted Oct 9, 2003 18:33 UTC (Thu) by zone (guest, #3633) [Link]

> If you break the road rules they take your license. Hopefully the same will happen here.

As unlikely as it would be for VeriSign to lose any rights to .com or .net over this incident, under the 1999 agreement ICANN and the US Department of Commerce do have the right to terminate the agreement under a variety of circumstances. In particular, under 14.B of the registry agreement, ICANN can terminate NSI's registry rights if ICANN has already terminated NSI's registrar rights under II.N of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement. A possible cause for terminitation, listed in II.N.6, states:

6. Registrar continues acting in a manner that ICANN has reasonably determined endangers the stability or operational integrity of the Internet after receiving three days notice of that determination.

So it might take a bit of legal wrangling, but it definitely does seem possible.

VeriSign backs down - for now

Posted Oct 12, 2003 14:07 UTC (Sun) by mdekkers (guest, #85) [Link]

You should look into the way the .au domain was governed a few years ago, and how that governance was taken away......