ICANN Convinces VeriSign to Suspend SiteFinder service
On September 15, VeriSign, the registrar for .com and .net, implemented a new service redirecting users who misspelled or misidentified a .com or .net URL to their Site Finder web page, a click-per-view search engine that programmers claim gathers personal information. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) responded by insisting that VeriSign suspend the Site Finder service, and restore the .com and .net top-level domains to the way they were operated prior to 15 September 2003. ICANN stated that VeriSign's "wildcard" deployment is not in compliance with its obligation to act as a neutral registry and has "adversely affected anti-spam software, e-mail deliveries, and core DNS operations, as well as raised privacy concerns." VeriSign denies all allegations and plans to reactivate the service with slight modifications; the company has said it will give at least 30 days notice beforehand.

CNET's coverage of the VeriSign-ICANN dispute »

October 2003