VeriSign DNS in Trouble

hesiod writes "Over at CNet News, there is an article reporting that VeriSign may lose their ability to sell domains. Evidently, ICANN is miffed because VS's WHOIS database has incorrect information. Not exactly news to most of us, but they have been given 15 days to fix the errors, or risk losing the ability to sell domains."

Comments

Surprised?

[VisualStim]

Ok, everyone who has a domain registered through VeriSign, please rasie you hand ... for shame ... you are all sentenced to 100 MetaModerations a day for a month. Now get to it!

PR Stooging

[alexmogil]

"Out of 10.3 million records, they pulled out 17 of these that have inaccurate data on it," said VeriSign spokesman Brian O'Shaughnessy. "That doesn't diminish the fact that VeriSign sees this as an important issue, but 17 names out of 10.3 million would hardly be considered a pattern."

I'm sorry, but my rebuttal is: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Only Seventeen?! I'd wager 15% of the domains on there are pointed to the phone number 123-456-7890 at the address of 123 Main Street. I'd call that the beginning of a pattern. Buncha jerks.

This isn't entirely Verisign's fault

[wowbagger]

True, bogus WHOIS data makes it very hard to track down spamm^H^H^H^H^Htroublemakers on the 'Net, but is this really Verisign's fault?

If I register floobydust.com, and I fill in a contact email that becomes invalid three days after I go live, is that Verisign's fault? What should they do, spam everybody in their WHOIS and purge the bounces?

I can think of lots of reasons to yank Verislime's ability to sell domains, but I'm not sure this is one of them.

How convenient

[gmhowell]

Verisign has given me about 15 days to renew my registration of domain.

Not gonna happen.

Hello gandi.net

i'm forgetting again

[gsfprez]

what law is it breaking to have incorrect data?

in fact, i have incorrect data because i and my wife were being stalked - and the WHOIS database is where he thought i lived. He went looking for us at the old address.

and what's the worst part of all - to have ANY level of security from a whois search that could give sickos and perverts your address is by getting a P.O. Box.. from the USPS!

Imagine, the key to internet privacy is the Postal Service. Now that's just great.

Re:i'm forgetting again

[anthony_dipierro]

what law is it breaking to have incorrect data?

None yet, but if ICANN gets their way they'll buy this law.

Re:i'm forgetting again

[jdreed1024]

what law is it breaking to have incorrect data?

There is no such law. But what's your point? If Ashcroft or someone from the justice dept were pursuing them, and there was no law, then you'd have a point.

They did, however, sign a contact with ICANN, in which they agreed to have up to date data. They chose to take a big shit on that contract. That's why ICANN is pissed.

Personally, I'd love to see Verisign out of business. Someone stole my identity two years ago and bought $1000 worth of services from Verisign. Verisign took a YEAR to remove the domains, claiming they needed to verify with the registrant before they could be cancelled. (Thieves have more rights than I do, apparently). They still refuse to remove the bogus whois information that the thief supplied using my correct name and address, but a fake phone number and e-mail. They claim I can't remove it, because I told them I didn't enter it in the first place. They also don't answer the phone anywhere but the sales department.

They're a bunch of lying, thieving, ignorant wankers, who deserve to have the book thrown at them. Not that it'll happen, since ICANN will probably give up at the last minute (c.f. United States v. Microsoft).

this isnt about bad whois data

[leto]

It is about
- Getting rid of Verisign in the .org deal
- Getting rid of Verisign before they get the 3
year on .net and 5 year on .com names
- Getting rid of a company that is going bankrupt
and is highly fraudulent (snapnames, bogus
invoices etc)
- ICANN itself getting out of the spotlight for
firing its At Large Directors

Just transfered from VeriSign

[stompro]

I have just finished a month long battle with VeriSign to get access to a domain. I would fax them an authorization letter, they would email me back saying I missed the coma on the 21st page after the statment of intent blah blah. I finally got everything to their liking but they didn't respond for a couple more weeks. So I headed over to domainmonger and did a transfer, and was up and running in a day and a half.
I can kind of understand why a larger company would like to know that someone has to jump through major hoops before someone can hijack their domain, but for me all there security was a major pain in the ass. Plus, the last time I checked, they were using some ibm ssl software that doesn't let you use mozilla to manage your account. I am going to plug domainmonger here, I have no affiliation with them, I am just a happy customer.
domainmonger.com
I have had such good luck with domainmonger, they are not a large operation, but I have never had trouble getting ahold of someone if I have had a problem.

....
posting makes you feel goooooodd.

Letter from Louis Touton

[nutznboltz]

http://www.icann.org/correspondence/touton-letter- to-beckwith-03sep02.htm

Cites the 17 broken entries.

Don't threaten, just do it.

[uncoveror]

ICANN should not threaten to take Verisign's licence to sell domains, they should just do it. The scam they ran trying to get customers of other registrars to switch to them with bogus renewal notices should be all the impetus ICANN needs. I recieved those bogus notices for uncoveror.com, and dontbuycds.org, but godaddy.com had already warned me they were bogus.

Re:Screw ICANN

[(startx)]

he's saying the only way he'll put in accurate info is if that info is a P.O. Box, which costs money. He doesn't want to list his home address for obvious reasons.

#11 is the gem

[stox]

Oh, this is priceless:

11. nsi-direct.com: On 13 June 2002, we sent you an e-mail asking VeriSign Registrar to correct inaccurate Whois data in the record for nsi-direct.com. The administrative contact e-mail address for that registration is still listed as "no.valid.email@WORLDNIC.NET". We sent a test message to that address last week - it bounced back with an indication that the address was not valid. Over two months after the initial report, the invalid data is still being reported in VeriSign's Whois service.

Wasn't this this the "spam" arm of NSI?

They have a point

[Kiwi]

I think the point ICANN is making here is not that Verisign has to make each and every single WHOIS contact info accurate. The point is that Verisign does not even care that their WHOIS contact informaiton is bogus more often than not.

People would complain to Network Solutions about spammers having obviously bogus WHOIS information (such as phone numbers of --- --- ----), and their reply was that "WHOIS information is ot guaranteed to be accurate".

I think the response is that, if a given set of WHOIS contact information is bogus, and people complain about the bogus information, Verisign should pull the domain in question until they update the information to have legitimate contact info.

A spam-friendly domain without real WHOIS contact information should be pulled until the information is updated. People should be held more accountable for what they put up on the internet; non-bogus WHOIS contact info is a start.

- Sam (Pot. Kettle. Black. I've moved since signing up for my domains, and have not updated the WHOIS contact info)

What do you want from them?!

[fireboy1919]

Do you expect a company to keep track of the mailing addresses and names - the very IDENTITY of its clients?

I mean, are there even companies whose business is to guarantee that someone is who they say they are and that they provide accurate information?

The very idea is ludicrious!

Seriously though...why not have government controlled digital signatures? They could use the passport system (not Microsoft's...the kind you get before you go to another country) as a starting point. It seems like one of the rare chances for beneficial government interference. Sure, we'd lose a particular private sector, but it'd give lots of people the same warm, fuzzy feeling that the FDIC does.

They've already got one # to represent each person anyway.

Really looking for (negative) responses here; I can't see anything bad about this (and I'm usually against government intervention).

changing registrars

[phriedom]

I had the same problem getting VeriSign to change a domain host, they ignored faxes, etc. I finally got it moved, but was tired of the BS from VS. So I tried to move to a new registrar, GoDaddy to be exact, and got a "the current registrar has denied your transfer request." GoDaddy says there is nothing they can do about it and that I must take up the issue with VeriSign. I am of course seething mad. I am paid up. I am in compliance with their entire Service Agreement. The link in the Service Agreement that refers to changing registrars leads to a Procedure for changing restrants, not registrars. VeriSign ignored my first Help request. I just tried again and got the form email that says they will get back to me in 24hours. I'm hoping I don't have to send a certified letter to their legal department. Anyone have any advice out there?

How I became a porn king without even trying.

[stonewolf]

VeriSign made a data entry error and listed my nic handle, something like, SW123 as the technical contact for a porn site. The nic handle of the real technical contact for the site was something like SW1234. They just dropped the last digit. I found out about the problem when angry customers of the porn site started contacting me. A couple threatened to sue me. I contacted VeriSign and asked them to correct the error. They refused. I explained the problem, they couldn't care less. I contacted the actual web site owner, in Australia, I live in the US, he never responded.

I found that I was on many porn dealer mailing lists. I contacted VeriSign. I started getting promotional offers for disks of barn yard porn. Both VeriSign and the owner of the site refused to reply to my emails. When I called VeriSign they told me to stop bothering them. They refused to take any action.

Eventually the owner tried to change the DNS server for the site, as technical contact I blocked it. They tried again, I blocked it. They tried to change the technical contact. I let them!

I was listed as technical contact for that site for more than 4 years. VeriSign refused to do anything. I was never able to contact the actual owners of the site. I contacted VeriSign by email and by phone repeatedly. They refused to do anything.

My name and my home address are still listed in directories of porn site operators.

I would like to see the President of VeriSign draw and quartered. I hate those guys. Putting them out of business is the least that should be done to them. They are sick sick sick bastards.

Stonewolf