Resolving Everything: VeriSign Adds Wildcards

DragonHawk writes "As of a little while ago (it is around 7:45 PM US Eastern on Mon 15 Sep 2003 as I write this), VeriSign added a wildcard A record to the .COM and .NET TLD DNS zones. The IP address returned is 64.94.110.11, which reverses to sitefinder.verisign.com. What that means in plain English is that most mis-typed domain names that would formerly have resulted in a helpful error message now results in a VeriSign advertising opportunity. For example, if my domain name was 'somecompany.com,' and somebody typed 'soemcompany.com' by mistake, they would get VeriSign's advertising." Read on below for some more information.

"(VeriSign is a company which purchased Network Solutions, another company which was given the task by the US government of running the .COM and .NET top-level domains (TLDs). VeriSign has been exploiting the Internet's DNS infrastructure ever since.)

This will have the immediate effect of making network trouble-shooting much more difficult. Before, a mis-typed domain name in an email address, web browser, or other network configuration item would result in an obvious error message. You might not have known what to do about it, but at least you knew something was wrong. Now, though, you will have to guess. Every time.

Some have pointed out that this will make an important anti-spam check impossible. A common anti-spam measure is to check and make sure the domain name of the sender really exists. (While this is easy to force, every little bit helps.) Since all .COM and .NET domain names now exist, that anti-spam check is useless.

VeriSign has published white papers about their implementation and also made some recommendations."

Comments

wlel....

[Anonymous Coward]

i fckued up taht frsit psot

w00t

[Anonymous Coward]

first post, bitch!
hoo ha!

Vrey Imptorant Nwes!

[Fecal Troll Matter]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Fcuknig amzanig huh?

Re:beyootiful

[Anonymous Coward]

If I had any mod points, you would get one. :)

DON'T CLICK THAT LINK

[Anonymous Coward]

Great, the trolls have yet another weapon at their disposal.

Hey, I wonder if this could be used to destroy Verisign? Replace this with a kiddie-porn image, forward to the FBI, and sit back and laugh. :-)

Oh, enough...

[Angst Badger]

When I was in high school, I had a crazy biology teacher who was convinced -- sincerely, I think -- that the way to keep students from skipping class was to take the first student caught skipping each semester and hang him in front of the school until he rotted.

It used to be that I thought old Mr. Hatcher was nutty as a bedbug, but every time I read about some probably-borderline-legal but outrageously, screamingly unethical behavior on the part of moneygrubbing corporate executives, I move a little closer to seeing his point.

What we need is a lottery for corpo-rats. Enter them all by popular acclaim, and every quarter, just yank one of them at random out of the boardroom and pump him full of lead. Leave him to rot on the steps of the Federal Reserve.

Most of them will try to play it a little cooler. A few, like Darl McBride, won't. But that's okay, because you can't win if you don't play.

mod parent up

[Alejo]

the fbi idea is great...

Re:beyootiful

[Wolfrider]

Note: http://sitefinder.verisign.com/lpc? Access Denied by Squid rules.

Generated Tue, 16 Sep 2003 07:06:57 GMT by server.series.org (squid/2.5.STABLE3)

--I don't know which rule it tripped on, but I consider that a BONUS! :)