Peachy Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I'm surprised no one has brought this up, yet. Last Monday, September 15, VerSign placed a wildcard record (*) into the root DNS servers that provide name resolution for top level domain names for the internet. What does this mean? Well, if you type a domain name incorrectly and it is not registered, you will get taken to a the VersSign Sitefinder site trying to sell you the domain name, plus a list of possible likely links. Well, doesn't Micosoft do this with IE, you may ask? Yes, the Beast from Redmond will redirect mistyped domain names to a MSN page, but that can be easily turned off in the Tools > Options menu. You can't turn this in Netscape, Mozilla, Firebird, Opera, Galeon, etc unless you block the Sitefinder IP address. But more to the point, ISPs are complaining because it breaks reverse-namelookups to check for SPAM. There are other implications:All Your Web Typos are Belong to UsVerisign's SiteFinder finds privacy hullabalooVeriSign sued over SiteFinderCommittee Charges That VeriSign Weakens the WebICANN Advisory Concerning VeriSign's Deployment of DNS Wildcard ServiceLetter from VerSign to ICANNICS patch for BIND 9.2.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddy Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Yea, heard about this last week. The complaints I heard were that ISPs, particularly AOL and MS, were miffed because their own search sites would loose some of the typo action ($$). What troubles me is that Sitefinder also displays paid-for-listings in their suggested web sites. I always though Verisign's service was supposted to be somewhat independant. Now there exists the possibility that sites that present the most review to Verisign will get some sort of preferrential treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Peachy, FYI, it was actually Just didn't give it a title that stands out I guess http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/forums/inde...=ST&f=10&t=2819 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted September 23, 2003 Author Share Posted September 23, 2003 Shoot, Ryan, my head must be in two places! I even posted to that thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 No worries. I've done the same before myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 Sitefinder is dead! No more redirections for now.Cnet report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.