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Verisign Typosquatter Explorer

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the something-to-think-about dept.

jelyon quotes Seth Finkelstein's website "I have written a program " Verisign Typosquatter Explorer" in order to examine [the Verisign] suggestions [for mistyped domains]. Future data may be analyzed as interest permits. Note tests with some domains seem to return results which are not constant, i.e. differences when the program is run repeatedly. This is not a program bug. Reloading the Verisign page also changes which squat-suggested domains are displayed. I don't believe it's an advertising rotation, but the behavior is similar to that practice."

9 of 367 comments (clear)

  1. With all the stuff flying in IT today by grasshoppa · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it's amazing anybody is able to accomplish anything.

    Anybody else feel like you just want to start over, with only good people involved, and remake the internet? None of this patent crap, none of this copyright bullshit, just pure standards that are actual standards. Uncompromised and pure. No restrictions on data, short of the physical line speeds.

    Yeah yeah, I know..."when you wish, upon a star"

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    1. Re:With all the stuff flying in IT today by Osty · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Anybody else feel like you just want to start over, with only good people involved, and remake the internet? None of this patent crap, none of this copyright bullshit, just pure standards that are actual standards. Uncompromised and pure. No restrictions on data, short of the physical line speeds.

      And you'd just have to do it all over again in 15-20 years, since that's exactly how the current net started.


    2. Re:With all the stuff flying in IT today by mumblestheclown · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'd like to start over and remake the internet. With people who RESPECT copyrights, for an atmosphere where intellectual work is treated equitably, so that we can build real empires of information, education, and entertainment, rather than play lowest common denominator games of today. I'd like an internet where a small software development shop can compete against large shops and make a fair profit without today's reality that any software that becomes popular gets pirated en masse, ultimately benefitting only the established names. I'd like a world where a musician can sell their songs for a fair price on the internet without middlemen knowing that their monetay success will be a linear product of the number of fans the quality of their music attracts. I'd like an internet without the "geektelligencia" going 180 degrees the wrong way and bitching and whining about copyrights, when they should be the first one to see their value and fight vigorously to protect them.

  2. Out-of-sync DBs? by Lord+Grey · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The phenomena could be easily explained as out-of-sync databases. Assuming that Verisign is using multiple database systems, that is.

    But does it matter? What Verisign is doing is wrong. Exactly how they're wrong is irrelevant.

    --
    // Beyond Here Lie Dragons
  3. Re:petition by grub · · Score: 5, Insightful


    I would like to see just one online petition that has carried any weight. It's the height of "slacktivism".

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  4. To repeat the obvious... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...and preach to the choir.

    Verisign was contracted to run DNS servers for the .com and .net top-level domains; both of which are in practice "flat" address spaces, with no formalised lower-level hierarchy. If an organisation registers the domain "foo.com", implements nameservers for this domain, and then these nameservers ignore accepted practice and the way the majority of Internet applications expect the nameservice to work - then the organisation shoots only itself in the foot.

    Verisign is in effect treating the entire top-level .com and .net domains as its corporate property.

    If Verisign were genuinely ignorant of the effects of their move, then the company is not competent to operate TLD DNS services. If Verisgn were aware of the potential problems their decision could cause and went ahead regardless for commercial reasons then the company is not fit to operate TLD DNS services.

    If ICANN cannot react to this nonsense in less than a working week, ICANN itself is not fit to direct the Internet naming service.

    Apart from massed armies of geeks with pitchforks and flaming torches converging on Verisign and ICANN locations, does anyone have any constructive suggestions on how to get the parasites out of the loop?

  5. Wrote email to VeriSign by SuperDry · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wrote an email today to NetSol/VeriSign to voice my displeasure. As I have 5 or so domains up for renewal in October, along with various web and email hosting features that go along with them that are currently with NetSol. I told them that I would be moving everything to another registrar should they not have rescinded their change by my renewal date.

    I know that my $300 a year may not be the end of the world to them, but I thought it important that they know that some people will make buying decisions based on this. And the types of people that handle DNS registration issues are just the types of people to be ticked off by this.

    They sent me a form letter response, that addressed both this new unregistered DNS feature as well as the "register in advance for about-to-expire domains" feature that I didn't mention at all in my email. Their response to that issue was also defensive, so I take it that they're getting an earful on that one as well.

  6. Re:ICANN, IAB, IETF official response by zjbs14 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Check that date. It's ancient history and was a recommendation that Verisign not do what they just did.

    We'll just have to wait and see if ICANN comes back and slaps them down

    --
    No sig, sorry.
  7. Re:Squating? by slithytove · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The only difference I can think of is that Verisign didn't even have to buy the mispelled domains, which just makes it even more infuriating.
    This is unquestionably an abuse of their "right" to manage the US TLDs and they should be stripped of it.
    Personally I don't see why we couldnt have a distributed DNS system which would work something like freenet. The trademark office could push entries into the system, signed with their private key, and various other governmental, commercial and non-profit/private entities could push whatever entries they wanted onto the stack too.
    It would be up to ISPs and individuals to pick which groups' entries to use and in what order.
    Most people (and presumably all isps) would probably place the trademark offices' lists at the top so they could find the products and companies they seek (incidentally eliminating the problems associated with others registering your trademark as a domain).
    A second tier of trustworthy companies would sell domain names (with market forces setting the cost based on how many isp's subscribe to their entries and how high up the search list most isp's place them)
    Finally, I could make my own top-level domains by placing my own list near the top of every computers resolve.conf equivalent which I use.
    No government-granted monopolies involved except the already existing trademark system and no need for an ultra-high-availability network at the top level.
    If any of this strikes you as unfeasible you probably need to read more about freenet (or conceivably I do- let me know).