VeriSign sued

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 21:30:00 -0400
From: Gene Gaines <gene.gaines () gainesgroup com>
Subject: VeriSign sued
To: dave () farber net


http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2003/09/18/rtr1086035.html

VeriSign sued over controversial Web service
Reuters, 09.18.03, 9:07 PM ET

By Elinor Mills Abreu

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Internet search company Thursday filed a
$100 million antitrust lawsuit against VeriSign Inc., accusing the Web
address provider of hijacking misspelled and unassigned Web addresses
with a service it launched this week.

VeriSign's new SiteFinder service takes searches for ".com" and ".net"
Web addresses that are not spelled correctly or have not yet been
registered and redirects them to a VeriSign Web page that includes
options and pay-for-placement topic links.

Since it was launched Monday, the SiteFinder service has drawn
widespread criticism from Internet users who complain that VeriSign
has overstepped its authority. However, VeriSign says it is merely
offering a convenient service.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Orlando, Florida, alleges
antitrust violations, unfair competition and violations of the
Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and asks the court to order
VeriSign to put a halt to the service, said Robert Hart, a spokesman
for Popular Enterprises LLC, the Orlando-based parent company of
search provider Netster.com.

According to the lawsuit, Mountain View, California-based VeriSign has
been using its position as the keeper of the master list of all Web
addresses ending in ".com" and ".net," also called domain names, to
unfair advantage.

Not only is VeriSign making money off the redirected searches, but it
is improperly interfering with competing services, including Netster's
SmartBrowse and similar services run by Internet service providers
like AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online and Microsoft Corp.,
Popular Enterprises said.

...

A Web community backlash has led to the creation of software to allow
people to circumvent the SiteFinder service.

The Internet Software Consortium, a non-profit group that developed
the BIND software that directs most Web traffic to the correct
address, released new software on Wednesday that ISPs can use to block
the SiteFinder service for customers, said Paul Vixie, president of
the Redwood City, California-based group.

SiteFinder reduces the effectiveness of anti-spam programs that work
by rejecting e-mail coming from non-existent Web addresses, Vixie
said.

It also is raising privacy concerns that VeriSign will have access to
log-in names and passwords that are sometimes included in Web address
queries and information in e-mails sent inadvertently to non-existent
Web addresses, he added.

VeriSign's O'Shaughnessy said the company's technicians were looking
into the complaint about SiteFinder thwarting anti-spam software, but
said the privacy complaint was a "red herring" since the company would
not keep such information.

Vixie said many people believe VeriSign should not have launched the
new service without first getting permission from the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization that
oversees Internet policies and practices.

"If VeriSign is a caretaker (of Web addresses) then they've exceeded
their authority," Vixie said.

Mary Hewitt, a spokeswoman for ICANN, said the organization knew about
VeriSign's idea for the service but had not given final approval and
did not know it was being activated. She said the group would have
more comment on the matter within the next few days.

Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service

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