VeriSign Implements Redirects For Mistyped Domains

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September 16, 2003 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- VeriSign (verisign.com) announced yesterday the implementation of its Site Finder service to the .com and .net top-level domain zones.

The company said Site Finder is designed to help users reach their Internet destinations when URLs are mistyped or spelled incorrectly. According to reports published by the Associated Press, critics complain that the Site Finder service gives a private company too much control over online commerce and lets it profit from an essential monopoly over ".com" and ".net" names.

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News Here : http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/veri091603.cfm

But Seems to be some peep have probs with this

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Okay, everyone. Let's all say it together: **** Verisign!

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Source Here : http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/000970.html

What about u ??

Personally I find verisign to be a deceitful comany with extremely poor regard to it's customer service practice and customers in general. They remind me of old ma bell.

I saw this when I typed in my companies domain name incorrectly. Although it may help people find your domain, it is kind of a shady practice. Especially when they have search catagories that probably include payed listings.

Here is an example page:

http://sitefinder.verisign.com/lpc?u...dmicrosoft.com

I hope they lost money to buy all those server to accept all the bad request!!

Where as I do agree about the practices of Verisign, I think that the service may have some residual benefit. Now, before you blast me into next week, just give this a thought. Many pr0n and "buy junk on the internet" sites thrive on spelling mistakes. They snap up domains that are commonly mispelled and point them to their main site(s). I know that I have typed in something completely innocent and of course spelled the site wrong and found myself looking at penile enlargement order forms. No, I didn't place an order :p.

It appears there are others that are not to happy with what Verisign is doing as well.

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VeriSign's controversial "typo-squatting" Site Finder service is about to be bypassed by an emergency software patch to many of the Internet's backbone computers.

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The ISC has received so many complaints, it is developing a 'patch' for the BIND software which will 'block' the site finder service.

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However, the ISC is about to undercut the Site Finder service with a patch to its BIND software.

BIND runs on about 80 percent of the Internet's domain name servers -- the machines that translate human-readable Web addresses like www.wired.com into machine-readable Internet addresses used by the Internet's vast network of computers.

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Apparently this little trick is messing up some ISP's spam filter checks.

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lot of spam spoofs the "from" domain, and that many ISP-level spam filters check whether incoming e-mail is from a valid domain or not. Instead of generating errors, the spam filter checks are instead being rerouted to the Site Finder service, and therefore appear to originate from a legitimate domain.

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You can read the full story HERE

Cheers:

Another thing that is stupid about this Verisign thing:

From the terms of service: (http://sitefinder.verisign.com/terms.jsp)

"AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND.
By using the service(s) provided by VeriSign under these Terms of Use, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by all terms and conditions here in and documents incorporated by reference."

So by typing in the domain name wrong you are agreeing to be bound by their Terms and Conditions even though you have not had a chance to read them first.

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"AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND.
By using the service(s) provided by VeriSign under these Terms of Use, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by all terms and conditions here in and documents incorporated by reference."

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That is such bs!

here is what you do...

open your hosts file

add entry

127.0.0.1 sitefinder.verisign.com

bye bye sitefinder.verisign.com!

LOL, yes, the good ol localhost trick! I used that technique to block the AOL add servers that are in AIM...

Anyway, I'd be interested to know exactly how Verisign slipped into a position where they were able to get this service implimented.

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Anyway, I'd be interested to know exactly how Verisign slipped into a position where they were able to get this service implimented.

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Maybe because ICANN gave them control over all the .com and .net domains?

ICANN has asked them to suspend their sitefinder and verisign has declined... wonder how much longer they'll be in control of the .com and .net domains?

Suit filed over VeriSign domain redirect
Source (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-508...=zdfd.newsfeed)


VeriSign is facing a new class-action lawsuit over its controversial "SiteFinder" service, which redirects all misspelled or unassigned .com domain names to a search page managed by the domain name registrar.
The service appeared on the Web as a surprise last week, replacing the familiar error pages typically found when a Web surfer mistypes an Internet address. Criticism has been harsh and bitter from competitors and many broad Internet technical circles which say the action interferes with other Net applications.

"This action violates many of the architectural principles that have so successfully supported the phenomenal growth of the Internet to date," Lynn St.Amour, president of the Internet Society, wrote in a letter Friday to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body responsible for domain name policy. "Not to heed these principles or the advice of numerous technical Internet groups is extremely irresponsible and is putting the stability of the Internet at considerable risk."

VeriSign is able to exert control over all unassigned and misspelled domain names because it serves as the government-approved registry, or ultimate traffic director, for domain names ending in .com or .net.

Ordinarily, a Web browser translates a domain name such as www.news.com into an Internet address by checking domain name servers across the world that hold this information, much like a phone directory that equates names with telephone numbers. Previously, if a name did not exist--whether misspelled or simply unassigned--Web browsers would find themselves at the familiar DNS (domain name system) error page.

Some Web browsers and browser add-ons would redirect these mistakes to another search page or suggest possible alternatives.

The new VeriSign service points all misspellings to the same SiteFinder search page, however, making it difficult or impossible for other companies to provide those browser redirection services. Critics say it also could harm spam filters, some of which relied on the old system to block e-mail that came from false addresses.

The new class-action suit, filed by longtime Internet litigator Ira Rothken on behalf of a California e-mail and device synchronization software provider, said VeriSign is abusing its power over the domain name system.

"VeriSign's redirection of .com and .net traffic not only is earning, or is intended to earn, profits for VeriSign, but it subverts the basic infrastructure of the Internet, to the detriment of numerous entities," the suit says. "VeriSign's actions have exceeded and continue to exceed the scope of its authorized monopoly status--its establishment of SiteFinder redirection service was not acting in compliance with any clearly articulated government program, and it was not acting at the direction or with the consent of any federal agency."

Other suits have been filed against the domain name company on behalf of private companies or individuals, but Friday's was the first to seek class-action status.

A VeriSign representative declined to comment, saying the company does not remark on pending litigation. Previously, the company has said it would examine technical objections to the SiteFinder redirect service, but indicated that it planned to keep it operating despite criticism.