VeriSign Shutting Down Site Finder

00420 writes "VeriSign, the administrator of the .com and .net domains, made plans to shut down its new Site Finder service Friday, after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ordered the company to undo controversial changes. Of course they're not taking it down because it affected the internet, they're just doing it to keep good relations with the technical community. (Seems a little late for that doesn't it?)" The shutdown is not complete yet, though: VeriSign hasn't changed their wildcard DNS entry (64.94.110.11).

How Does VeriSign Even Stay In Business?

[jbottero]

I have a very difficult time understanding how VeriSign stays in business at all considering there are much better options for both domain registration and secure certificates.

What are some alternatives?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, seeing how much ass Verisign sucks, what are the best options out there for people wanting to jump ship?

It's still up and running.

[sakusha]

Note that "making plans to shut down" does not equal "shut down."

ICANN's power

[chrispyman]

I guess this goes to show that after all ICANN does indeed have some authority over Verisign. Maybe ICANN isn't the pointless and powerless body we though they were.

Re:Email from Verisign

[hey]

We look forward to providing the Site Finder service following this suspension.

Er, what?
Maybe they have plans to let ISPs wildcard to Sitefinder for a kick back.

Temporarily is the word that worries me

[thrill12]

In all the communication Verisign presented, they kept the word "temporarily" or made suggestions which imply that.

Something tells me Verisign still has some tricks up their sleeve, which includes reinstating the service after their laywers have come up with a "satisfactory answer" to ICANN's ultimatum.

Guess I shouldn't take away my wewantour404.(com|net) yet...

Not DNS

[Anonymous Coward]

DNS does not define wildcard redirections. VeriSign should lose the contract just because of that.

These are the same guys that were ordered by the FTC to stop falsely advertising renewal services, isn't it?

Lame crooks.

Re:Too little too late

[Elwood P Dowd]

Not only that, but from now on I won't be registering any .com or .net domains. It'll be .org every time.

I feel sorry...

[infolib]

...for the guy who some day down the line gets 64.94.110.11. All these null routes probably won't go away that easily. He'll have lots of mystified users...

It will be back ....

[Leme]

Considering the massive amounts of money I'm sure they have spent on hardware, development and other neccesities on this silly project, I'm pretty confident to say that they just won't roll over and stop without a fight.

I'm sure the lawyers will drag this one out in court.

Re:The Enemy of my enemy...

[platipusrc]

Since both Verisign and ICANN qualify as enemies, does that mean that they're both our friends??

Re:How Does VeriSign Even Stay In Business?

[karl.auerbach]

Verisign gets $6 each year for each and every registration in .com and .net no matter who you "buy" the name from.

This $6 amount was fixed into the contract under which ICANN (with the help of the US Dept of Commerce) gifted .com unto Verisign effectively in perpetuity (infinite renewals unless Versign does something very, very bad). There are no provisions in the contract to drive that amount to a lower amount. I voted against that contract.

Forbes CEO approval ratings

[Anonymous Coward]

The precipitous decline in the approval rating of Stratton Sclavos was breathtaking.

http://www.forbes.com/2003/05/01/cx_ceointernetpol l.html [forbes.com]

Baha!

Re:A few things

[pjrc]

I find interesting that Verisign requested 3 days before shutting down.... Did they do this when the service kicked in?

YES, they did give some advance notice.

In fact, Slashdot had coverage 4 days before it went into effect [slashdot.org].

The actual news coverage was at Computer Business Review [cbronline.com] 6 days before Verisign went live with SiteFinder on Sept 15.

Perhaps it was known before then, but there was certainly more than 3 days. That doesn't make Verisign any less slimey for doing this. But to say they did it without even a few days warning would clearly contradict the news coverage of their intentions at Computer Business Review and here at Slashdot (if you can stomache calling slashdot "news").

Re:Starwars Moment

[Anonymous Coward]

with an integrated browser environment, like konqueror, i type:

http://localhsot

a request that SHOULD NOT leave my network...now shows me ads from those fucking losers.