[council] ICANN Advisory on Sitefinder

[Thomas Roessler <roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://icann.org/announcements/advisory-19sep03.htm

     ICANN Logo
     
     Advisory
     19 September 2003
     
     Advisory Concerning VeriSign's Deployment of DNS Wildcard Service
     
     On 15 September 2003, 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 website 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 today.
     
     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.
     
     Comments concerning the layout, construction and functionality
     of this site
     should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxx.
     
     Page Updated 19-Sep-2003
     © 2003 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
     All rights reserved.
     
-- 
Thomas Roessler  <roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
At-Large Advisory Committee: http://alac.info/