ICANN, the domain-name governance organization, has demanded that Verisign stop hijacking mis-typed domain names to its own search site. Verisign’s action has harmed fundamental Internet infrastructure, and so far the company’s response to the community’s widespread outrage has been a raised middle finger.
ICANN said, among other things, that it has “insisted that VeriSign suspend the SiteFinder service, and restore the .com and .net top-level domains to the way they were operated prior to 15 September 2003. If VeriSign does not comply with this demand by 6:00 PM PDT on 4 October 2003, ICANN will be forced to take the steps necessary to enforce VeriSign’s contractual obligations.”
What ICANN can actually do about this is unclear. But if Verisign gets away with this unilateral move, there’s going to be serious trouble ahead for the Net.