McLaughlin Defends Site Finder As 'Innovation'

simeonbeta2 writes "Mark McLaughlin, Senior VP at Verisign, has an editorial up on news.com. McLaughlin casts the debate over sitefinder in terms of 'innovation' versus the status quo and threatens that stifling 'innovation' will lead to a weaker internet." There's more -- read on below.

psimeonbeta2 continues:"Additionally (shades of Darl) he suggests that an anti-capitalism animus is behind the resistance to sitefinder. This despite the known problems that sitefinder caused and despite the fact that breaking the DNS standards may have constituted a breach of contract on Verisign's part. Resistance, he concludes, must be due to some sort of techno-religious fervor.

While Verisign's chutzpah certainly doesn't rise to fiaSCO levels, I find the similar tones in spinning the issues at hand to be truly disturbing. Not only did Verisign screw us by changing how the internet works at a fundamental level, now they purport to be irritated that we didn't thank them for the favor! At least in this case the good guys(cherish this moment, ICANN!) won."

Comments

He is right! It is clearly innovation...

[Osrin]

... in the form that we have recently come to know it.

hmmmm

[the_other_one]

This sort of innovation followed by the "This will stifle innovation defense." must surely infringe on a Microsoft business process patent

I smell another lawsuit on the horizon.

Re:hmmmm

[antibryce]

I smell another lawsuit on the horizon.

Smelling a lawsuit from a distance must surely infringe on a SCO business process patent. I smell a...er wait...nevermind.

Innovative wildcards?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is * in bind so special? Here are some more 'innovative' wildcards: rm -rf /* (innovative on sco's lawyers machines... won't take much time at all to complete...) cat * > /dev/null (Zero loss compression of verisign's arguments...) and the best yet... cat * > /dev/sda (or /dev/hda) (Method of preserving the data, but making it useless - similar to press releases by verisign)

Re:Innovative wildcards?

[robochan]

I'd like to "innovate" the highway system so that everytime McLaughlin takes a wrong turn or misses an offramp, he ends up at my house and mows my lawn.

In other news

[El]

... street beggars have announced that the "innovation" of pointing loaded guns at the people they are asking for money greatly increases their profits. "Well, we the panhandling industry can't just remain static. They should be thanking us for innovating new sources of revenue" said one street bum as he was being arrested...

Re:In other news

[Anthony Boyd]

El, I have taken your concept and RUN with it. Below is a first-draft parody of the entire editorial. I think some parts are inspired, but other parts could use some help. It doesn't make Verisign's claims look as crazy as they are, yet. Anybody want to take a shot at rewriting my rewrite? I figure we can throw it up on a Web site with a similar look to it, and let the parody stand as a good rebuttal. Here it is.

Hobocorp's decision to launch a new Bum Gun service that gives panhandlers tools and options when they harass people for money has spurred a debate about the future of a safe society. It is a debate worth having, because at the heart of it is whether innovation in a safe society will be encouraged or whether the status quo is good enough. More than 20 million times a day, innocent citizens receive a barrage of requests for cash when they walk or drive by street beggars (such as stopping at a light and having the windshield washed whether requested or not). Those requests for cash can lead to a dead end, with no money given to the beggar in compensation for his efforts.

That's what Bum Gun is about. Instead of begging for cash, its users get an option to intimidate the citizenry, try a holdup or simply assualt the victim. Thus far, people have used these guns more than 40 million times to get the money they want to have.

While similar services have been tested and offered before, Hobocorp's Bum Gun has triggered debate because it hasn't been tried for non-mafia and non-gang related groups. Seemingly ignoring that fact, the police cast a vote last week for the status quo by forcing Hobocorp to shut down the service. We reluctantly agreed and are exploring our options.

The police appear to have bought into claims that our society's safety has broken or will break. Anyone who has lived through it in the last three weeks knows that claim to be false. More likely, the police caved under the pressure from some in the community for whom this is a 2nd-amendment-religion issue about whether guns should be used for these purposes.

For this vocal minority, resentment lingers at the very fact that guns are used for extortion, which ignores the fact that it's a critical part of our economy.

We respectfully disagree with those who, in the name of anti-gun rhetoric, strive to hold society back. Society as we know it today was built by expanding beyond its origins. When clans -- the first known humans to group together -- became prevalent thousands of years ago, its purpose was to provide strength in numbers.

Over the next few millenia, every stage of what we now know as human society caused fierce debate and controversy. By not being afraid to test and try new things, a set of laws and rights was created that now serves as the foundation for commerce and communications.

While the current debate is not the first over the future of society, it is critically important because it could well determine its future development. Our society has been used for many innovative purposes over the last century -- look at what the USA and the European Union have been able to accomplish -- but the reality is society itself, the infrastructure that serves as the foundation, has not significantly benefited from innovation.

This is a significant test for the entire planet because if the world can't find a way to introduce new services while reaching a resolution on legal matters that might arise, then society's infrastructure will never improve. It's tantamount to saying that the world is flat and therefore there is no need for further exploration.

If that is the case, it doesn't bode well for Earth. If beggars and con men are discouraged from exploring the bounds of the law, it will mean less research and development and less investment into firearms and assault weapons. In short, a weaker society.

That should concern the panhandling community, NRA members, thieves and white-collar criminals alike. Less investment means a less-stable gun-lobby long-term, with de

Re:In other news

[Anonymous Coward]

You should cut down on the negatives (it is a press release) try stuff like:

"an impressed finacial transaction (ift)" for "holdup"
"physical expression" for "assault
"keep money in circulation" to replace "to get the money they want to have.

remember you can't patent the wheel but you can patent a "circular mobility aide"

Innovate? Innovate?

[KevinMS]

I just innovated 4 of my domains over to
another registrar.

Re:I kind of like SiteFinder

[Anonymous Coward]

You have the entire Internet bookmarked so you never need to type in a URL?

That's so cool!

Too easy.

[Asprin]

I dub thee....

... Mark Mc-Laugh-In

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week!

"Innovation"

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

"You keep using that word. I believe it does not mean what you think it does." -- The Princess Bride

Re:I kind of like SiteFinder

[IANAAC]

For that I have google, which will then happily keep track of everywhere I've visited.

Re:Who's going to be the first to hack it?

[dAzED1]

wooooow...you can use nmap. And not even the newer, more intelligent version. Good for you.
I think you should hack it. That would be SO cool. Like, you'd be THA MAN. Wouldn't that just show them - if they act like asses, we can too!

Re:Utter Crap

[MrLint]

if !known_domain
then redirectositefinder;

Oh my god i just stole verisigns innovation!

As Inigo would put it...

[daffmeister]

McLaughlin casts the debate over sitefinder in terms of 'innovation' versus the status quo and threatens that stifling 'innovation' will lead to a weaker internet.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Re:Innovation?

[Texas Rose on Lava L]

I wonder what those same spammers think of our "free speech right" to post their home phone number on /. and mod it up to +5 Informative.

Innovation

[dmiller]

VeriSlime's sitefinder is innovation is much the same way that the SARS virus is evolution.

Stifle Innovation

[FrozenDownload]

It would be a sad irony that if in the interest of the status quo we stifle innovation, because in the end all that will lead to is less investment in these important networks.

It's a shame all of us can't see we are stifling innovation. If it wasn't for verisign, we wouldn't have redone some of our programs. Think of it as an upgrade, we are providing yet another "upgrade" to our application/scripts. Thats innovative!

Re:Utter Crap

[CAIMLAS]

I think I can sense a new Mozilla browser feature approaching. Optional, of course.

Re:They didn't warn me.

[rifter]

While I agree with much of what you've said, I have to disagree that "there WAS advance notice".

If you shout your plans into a hole in the ground, that does not comprise advance notice. And since Verisign clearly can't tell assholes from holes in the ground, telling ICANN is... oh never mind.

I have been a DNS admin for well over a decade (I have a 3-character NIC handle) and they sure as hell didn't send me any advance notice!

What if your plans are on display at the planning office in the basement, in a locked filing cabinet located in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'?