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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / SEPTEMBER 29, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 39
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Breaking News -
Networking:
Advisory Concerning VeriSign's DNS
Wildcard Service
On Sept. 15, VeriSign deployed a "wildcard" service into the .com and .net
Top
Level Domain zones. VeriSign's wildcard creates a registry-synthesized address
record in response to lookups of domains that are not otherwise present in the
zone (including restricted names, unregistered names, and registered but
inactive names).
The VeriSign wildcard redirects traffic that would otherwise have resulted
in
a "no domain" response to a VeriSign-operated Web site with search results and
links to paid advertisements.
Since the deployment, ICANN has been monitoring community reaction,
including
analysis of the technical effects of the wildcard, and is carefully reviewing
the terms of the .com and .net Registry Agreements.
In response to widespread expressions of concern from the Internet
community
about the effects of the introduction of the wildcard, ICANN has requested
advice from its Security and Stability Advisory Committee, and from the
Internet Architecture Board, on the impact of the changes implemented by
VeriSign. ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee is expected to
release an objective expert report concerning the wildcard later.
Recognizing the concerns about the wildcard service, ICANN has called upon
VeriSign to voluntarily suspend the service until the various reviews now
underway are completed.
Verisign Ignores ICANN Request
On Sept. 21, Versign replied to the ICANN Request saying that it will not
halt
advertising on Domain Error pages.
Russel Lewis, executive vice president of Versign, said, "As to your call
for
us to suspend the service, I would respectfully suggest that it would be
premature to decide on any course of action until we first have had an
opportunity to collect and review the available data. After completing an
assessment of any operational impact of our wildcard implementation, we will
take any appropriate steps necessary."
Following is Lewis' response to ICANN:
Dear Paul:
This will respond to the ICANN Advisory concerning VeriSign's Deployment of
DNS Wildcard Service dated 19 September 2003. In the footsteps of several
other registries that have done the same, we recently deployed a wildcard in
the .com and .net zones. This was done after many months of testing and
analysis and in compliance with all applicable technical standards. All
indications are that users, important members of the internet community we all
serve, are benefiting from the improved Web navigation offered by Site Finder.
These results are consistent with the findings from the extensive research we
performed.
We are, of course, very interested in any objective technical information
ICANN may have received concerning the service and would welcome the
opportunity to work with you to review such data. To that end, we have reached
out to schedule meetings with ICANN’s Chairman, Vint Cerf, and the Chairman of
ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee, Steve Crocker, to exchange
information regarding issues that may be encountered in the community. We have
also formed an independent technical review panel to gather and analyze data
for the purpose of assessing any operational impact of our wildcard
implementation. The technical review panel will consist of leading experts in
the field.
As to your call for us to suspend the service, I would respectfully suggest
that it would be premature to decide on any course of action until we first
have had an opportunity to collect and review the available data. After
completing an assessment of any operational impact of our wildcard
implementation, we will take any appropriate steps necessary.
I look forward to continuing to work with you on this issue.
Best Regards,
Russell Lewis
Executive Vice President, General Manager
VeriSign Naming and Directory Services
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