It's got to suck to be Verisign
ICANN to VeriSign: Stop mucking around
Posted on: CNET News

Is VeriSign mucking up the integrity of the Net? The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) thinks it's likely.

Reacting to widespread criticism of VeriSign plans, the organization, which regulates how Internet addresses are assigned and reserved, asked VeriSign to halt its SiteFinder service. The ICANN is studying whether the SiteFinder service--a bypass of the portion of the Internet that VeriSign controls--will break how the Internet responds to errors.

SiteFinder sends Web surfers who mistype an address ending in .com and .net to a VeriSign controlled search site. Many network administrators have criticized the scheme because some technologies, such as antispam filters, rely on getting an error for nonexistent domains.

The ICANN has asked VeriSign to voluntarily suspend its SiteFinder service until a panel of experts can determine how the service could affect the Internet. The group is also doing a legal analysis of its agreement with VeriSign for maintaining the .com and .net domain databases. So far VeriSign has not responded.