Verisign still not backing down

September 23, 2003

VeriSign Inc. said that it would ask outside experts to review its controversial new service that captures mistaken Web searches after being hit with two lawsuits and opposition from the body that oversees Internet policy.

VeriSign said it was creating a committee of "Internet leaders" to advise it on technical matters although it planned to continue offering its SiteFinder service, launched last week amid a firestorm of protest from privacy advocates and rivals. "We're not backing down, but we will work with others," said VeriSign spokesman Tom Galvin.

VeriSign's new service, launched a week ago, takes searches for ".com" and ".net" Web addresses that are misspelled or have not yet been registered and redirects them to a VeriSign Web page that includes options and pay-for-placement topic links. While VeriSign says it is offering a convenience for people who previously received an error message, Internet users have cried foul, claiming VeriSign is overstepping its authority and hijacking certain common Web searches.

SiteFinder also interferes with anti-spam services that block e-mail from non-existent domains, causing problems for network administrators, critics say. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has asked VeriSign to suspend its service until it can gather more information, and the Internet Architecture Board, which advises ICANN, also opposes the service, said ICANN spokeswoman Mary Hewitt.

ICANN is looking into its legal rights in the matter and reviewing ICANN's contracts that allow VeriSign to serve as the keeper of the master list for all Web addresses ending in ".com" and ".net," she said.

TWO LAWSUITS FILED
Last week, Netster.com, which provides a similar service, filed an anti-trust lawsuit against VeriSign. On Monday, VeriSign rival, Go Daddy Software said it also has sued, claiming VeriSign is misusing its position to gain an unfair competitive advantage by intercepting and profiting from Internet traffic. SiteFinder is harming Go Daddy's business by allowing Internet users to easily search for domain names in their browser without having to visit a domain name registrar Web site, said Christine Jones, general counsel for Go Daddy.

VeriSign declined to comment on the litigation. In response to the complaints, VeriSign is creating a committee that will be made up of a half dozen Internet leaders to be announced later this week that will advise the company on technical aspects of the SiteFinder service, Galvin said.

"The committee will be chartered with providing technical information," he said. "But of course we will take seriously whatever feedback they give us." He declined to say whether the company would end the service if the committee recommended that. "They are not there to give us a recommendation. They are there to help us gather the information so we can make the best long-term decisions about this service," he added.

As a result of the service, VeriSign's site has had 65 million visits and 4 million to 7 million unique visitors per day, according to Galvin. He would not provide any estimates of how much money the company is making from the service. This is not the first time VeriSign has been embroiled in controversy. VeriSign's Network Solutions business, which initially had a government contract to register domains, was plagued for years with complaints that it maintained a monopoly until ICANN allowed other companies to register Web addresses as registrars. VeriSign remains the registrar, or controller, of the database containing the two most popular domains.

In recent years, VeriSign has backed off a marketing campaign after competitors sued it for deceptive advertising and VeriSign's plan to offer a waiting list for Web addresses was also stymied following a backlash.

Source: C-Net News

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