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ICANN To Hold Hearing About Site Finder

Posted by timothy on from the public-trust-is-a-non-sequitur dept.

An anonymous reader writes "According to article at InfoWorld, ICANN has scheduled a "fact-gathering meeting" concerning Verisign's wildcarding of the .com and .net Top Level Domains on Oct. 7 in Washington, D.C. Comments about Site Finder can be sent to the ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee at secsac-comment@icann.org. Here's your chance to be heard."

8 comments

  1. Verisign's Actions by 4of12 · · Score: 1

    have purely and simply given themselves all unassigned names for ...

    Remind me again, exactly how much Verizon had to pay for all of these names compared to what others pay for their assigned names?

    --
    "Provided by the management for your protection."
    1. Re:Verisign's Actions by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Remind me again, exactly how much Verizon had to pay for all of these names compared to what others pay for their assigned names?
      I'd hope Verizon didn't pay anything given they didn't get the unassigned names. Verisign is keeping them for itself.

      I know Verizon has a reputation for being an evil company etc, but really people need to stop dragging them into any discussion of Verisign's Sitefinder. They have nothing to do with it.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:Verisign's Actions by 4of12 · · Score: 2, Funny

      My apologies to Verizon; they're a home a phone to Verisign, unfortunately, and it tripped me up before I drank my cough fee.

      --
      "Provided by the management for your protection."
  2. ICANN? by Oddly_Drac · · Score: 0

    Hurrah. ICANN in Washington having a go at Verisign...within two or three years Verisign'll have some serious gum marks, and they might get sucked to death in a little under a decade.

    --
    Oddly Draconis
    Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
    1. Re:ICANN? by ninewands · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Hurrah. ICANN in Washington having a go at Verisign...within two or three years Verisign'll have some serious gum marks, and they might get sucked to death in a little under a decade.

      Who knows? It's entirely possible that attitudes like this:
      ICANN has already called on VeriSign to suspend Site Finder pending a review of the system, but VeriSign rejected that request.

      and this:
      "We certainly are in favor of the community having a healthy discourse on all of the technologies and innovations on the Internet, Site Finder is one of those. We are looking at how the (Oct. 7) meeting is shaping up and we will make our determination on participation based on that," said VeriSign spokesman Brian O'Shaughnessy.

      might get ICANN in the mood for a little bitch-slapping. It seems like the ultimate in arrogant bad judgment for a TLD registrar to thumb their nose at the agency that MADE them a TLD registrar.

      Just my US$0.02
      --
      utter rubbish
    2. Re:ICANN? by Oddly_Drac · · Score: 1

      "It seems like the ultimate in arrogant bad judgment for a TLD registrar to thumb their nose at the agency that MADE them a TLD registrar."

      You mean in the similar way that the authority that made them a TLD registrar closed it's doors and started electing people to it's own board under some very strange circumstances? Hmm. A pattern may be emerging.

      "ICANN has already called on VeriSign to suspend Site Finder pending a review of the system, but VeriSign rejected that request."

      The functional equivalent of shouting 'Stop! Or I'll shout stop again!'.

      At the moment it's down to people firewalling and patching their BIND installs to do the job that the increasing meeting's bound and lethargic ICANN is supposed to, and I quote, 'In addition, ICANN coordinates the stable operation of the Internet's root server system.'

      --
      Oddly Draconis
      Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
  3. Throw the book at them by AngryCodeMonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm really hoping that they get into some serious trouble over this. But with the way things have been lately I don't think much will come out of it.

  4. this is where US-ians can help... by feepcreature · · Score: 3, Informative
    Those of you living in the USA can help by raising the mismanagement of the internet with your Congresscritters or Senators (or whatever you call them). Unfortunately, we aliens would be written off as troublemakers complaining about how the US runs "its" internet. So it's up to you!

    Fortunately, the issues are simple enough for politicians (and the great unwashed) to understand:

    • important since it affects the whole internet
    • government responsible since it controls the system via Dept of Commerce
    • unilateral action by the company entrusted with running .com and .net, flagrantly ignoring standards, regulations, and users
    • unfair commercial advantage to that company - bad for competition
    • breaks "lots of stuff" on the internet (examples left as an exercise for the reader)
    • could get you more spam!
    • thin end of wedge - if Verisign (with the privileges given them by the DoC, via ICANN) get away with ignoring net standards and norms, we create a precedent for rogue states and other bodies to damage the internet and the strategic interests of "the free world" by even more damaging self-interested unilateral action
    • failure by US government to fix the problem will potentially embarrass the USA, and increase pressure to remove its control of the internet (which would probably be a good thing, except that the UN would probably be even worse than the USA)
    You can think of lots more reasons, no doubt.

    --
    Paul "Say no to feeping creaturism"