This is an email I just sent out to Icann.org. Portions of this (well, most...) are taken from the text and comments to be found in this Slashdot article. I encourage each of you to also send this email to comments@icann.org to complain, and if you have a blog, spread the word by cross-posting this to your website. Verisign must be stopped, at any cost.
----- Original Message -----
From: joe at szilagyi.us
To: comments@icann.org
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 8:48 AM
Subject: sitefinder.verisign.com
As of 7:45 PM US Eastern on Mon 15 Sep 2003, 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. (VeriSign is a company which purchased Network Solutions, another company which was given the taskby 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 continually been abusing the power that has been handed out to them. Two such examples are its mailing of false renewal notices, and its most recent exploit: sitefinder.verisign.com. Now, nearly all mistyped names will be sent to Verisign where they can do whatever they like to the unwitting user. There are even categories on sitefinder.verisign.com where one can browse and go to sites which are undoubtedly paying Verisign for the space.
Please take this, and the hundreds or thousands of e-mails you will receive, into consideration, and exercise the power that ICANN has. Verisign has continually been abusing and tricking people through deceptive business practices, and this should be the last straw. Verisign should not only be removed from it's post, but it should also be fined for its numerous escapades designed to make money.
__________________________
Joe / http://szilagyi.us
Never give up, never surrender.
...on grounds of comedy. This is starting to turn into an old Looney Tunes cartoon, where the SCO Coyote throws everything but the Acme kitchen sink at the IBM Roadrunner.
Meep meep!
What exactly is wrong about these things recording your SPEED? So long as it does not record your physical location via GPS, I fail to how the device recording how fast you are going or the physical condition of the vehicle, engines, tires, et al is an invasion of privacy. The only possible reason why I could see anyone even complaining about this is the fact that people get resentful, nasty, and angry when they're caught speeding--everyone from poor people to rich, educated to uneducated. There are exceptions, of course, but I challenge anyone to prove me wrong when I say that at least 8 of 10 people when caught speeding will think "Damn, this isn't fair." Fair or not, you were speeding, and got nailed. Oh, I complained about that too when I began driving, but my last speeding ticket was over two years ago on the way into work. When the cop nailed me and waved me over from his stationary speed trap, I actually laughed, since I knew exactly what I had done. I told him, "I guess I should have been going faster so you couldn't have gotten the gun on me in time," and we both had a good laugh over that, and I paid my $125 ticket and dealt with it.
To be honest, complaining that police and insurance investigators will have easy access to your speed is rather sad. Does anyone complain about the privacy that is invaded from the incredibly in-depth recording of every single aspect of the airline industry? No? Then why complain about this?
Everyone should expect to see small things like this begin to trickle out of Microsoft over the coming few years--they're seeing that the slow push of lost market share is starting to hurt them. Add in the fact that whole COUNTRIES are deliberately dumping Windows (Germany, India), and they're going to start resorting to things like this which will put a hit over time onto their massive cash reserves of $40 billion. You can compare it to the TV networks and their endless pathetic grabs for ratings with reality TV--they're desperate, hungry, and scared, but won't admit that they're losing the battle to cable television. Does anyone really think Bill Gates will hold a press conferance saying "Linux has us by the balls, in the long term"? No; we'll get things like this, quiet little sad grabs for market share.
All companies should pirate more software, to increase profit margins by keeping overhead costs down. Soon, all companies will be as successful as other honest firms such as Enron.
Apple zealots are so easy to needle. Just ask them why they only get 1% of the floor space in any CompUSA store, and you can watch their entire world cave in on them as if they were a living, breathing black hole.
If you're just starting out, and aren't wanting to get overwhelmed by nearly 40 years of deep X-Men mythology, check out this and this. It's a revamp/retooling of the series that isn't too far off of the movie storylines. Plus, it basically starts off it's own storylines at ground zero, with pretty kicking artwork.
I'll bet anyone $5 that this will come to wildly entertaining legal blows and that in the end no one will benefit except the RIAA and Clear Channel!
Besides, how many times do you want to listen to the same concert? After all, most performances by most bands sound the same at EVERY SINGLE SHOW.
Slashdot Mirror
This is an email I just sent out to Icann.org. Portions of this (well, most...) are taken from the text and comments to be found in this Slashdot article. I encourage each of you to also send this email to comments@icann.org to complain, and if you have a blog, spread the word by cross-posting this to your website. Verisign must be stopped, at any cost.
----- Original Message -----
From: joe at szilagyi.us
To: comments@icann.org
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 8:48 AM
Subject: sitefinder.verisign.com
As of 7:45 PM US Eastern on Mon 15 Sep 2003, 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. (VeriSign is a company which purchased Network Solutions, another company which was given the taskby 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 continually been abusing the power that has been handed out to them. Two such examples are its mailing of false renewal notices, and its most recent exploit: sitefinder.verisign.com. Now, nearly all mistyped names will be sent to Verisign where they can do whatever they like to the unwitting user. There are even categories on sitefinder.verisign.com where one can browse and go to sites which are undoubtedly paying Verisign for the space.
Please take this, and the hundreds or thousands of e-mails you will receive, into consideration, and exercise the power that ICANN has. Verisign has continually been abusing and tricking people through deceptive business practices, and this should be the last straw. Verisign should not only be removed from it's post, but it should also be fined for its numerous escapades designed to make money.
__________________________
Joe / http://szilagyi.us
Never give up, never surrender.
...and no one at all was surprised. How hard can it be to secure your networks?
...on grounds of comedy. This is starting to turn into an old Looney Tunes cartoon, where the SCO Coyote throws everything but the Acme kitchen sink at the IBM Roadrunner. Meep meep!
To be honest, complaining that police and insurance investigators will have easy access to your speed is rather sad. Does anyone complain about the privacy that is invaded from the incredibly in-depth recording of every single aspect of the airline industry? No? Then why complain about this?
Everyone should expect to see small things like this begin to trickle out of Microsoft over the coming few years--they're seeing that the slow push of lost market share is starting to hurt them. Add in the fact that whole COUNTRIES are deliberately dumping Windows (Germany, India), and they're going to start resorting to things like this which will put a hit over time onto their massive cash reserves of $40 billion. You can compare it to the TV networks and their endless pathetic grabs for ratings with reality TV--they're desperate, hungry, and scared, but won't admit that they're losing the battle to cable television. Does anyone really think Bill Gates will hold a press conferance saying "Linux has us by the balls, in the long term"? No; we'll get things like this, quiet little sad grabs for market share.
There is no way Cingular, Verizon, Sprint, et al will let this fall by the wayside, period. The costs to them will be nothing less than astronomical.
All companies should pirate more software, to increase profit margins by keeping overhead costs down. Soon, all companies will be as successful as other honest firms such as Enron.
Now if this had a better price, I (along with most people) would buy one.
King Jong II is completely insane.
I think a setup like this should be mandatory at any professional workstation of all IT staff everywhere. Think of how productivity will increase!
Metric is a backwards system that doesn't make anywhere near as much sense as English standard.
How did we know the reporter actually went up into space for this story? He may have Jayson Blaired it.
Apple zealots are so easy to needle. Just ask them why they only get 1% of the floor space in any CompUSA store, and you can watch their entire world cave in on them as if they were a living, breathing black hole.
...Windows 2005 will be Macintosh 1997.
If you're just starting out, and aren't wanting to get overwhelmed by nearly 40 years of deep X-Men mythology, check out this and this. It's a revamp/retooling of the series that isn't too far off of the movie storylines. Plus, it basically starts off it's own storylines at ground zero, with pretty kicking artwork.
What's the point anymore? Superfriends cosplay has made me a broken man.
...drink their tea straight. More of a caffeine hit, and it tastes better than coffee. And, you don't get that nasty twitch that Red Bull gives you.
...until someone blames the DMCA!
That should be "bait". I think that *I'm* gonna get sued now instead.
I think the RIAA is going to sue them for violating the DMCA.
...and now we'll never get to hear Serkis thank "his precious" for helping him win in the acceptance speech.
Build big warehouses with WiFi all over the place for LAN parties?
Until they get hit for an anti-trust lawsuit, that is.
I'll bet anyone $5 that this will come to wildly entertaining legal blows and that in the end no one will benefit except the RIAA and Clear Channel! Besides, how many times do you want to listen to the same concert? After all, most performances by most bands sound the same at EVERY SINGLE SHOW.