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VeriSign Sticks To Its Guns On Site Finder Battle
September 26, 2003
The battle around VeriSign's three-week-old Site Finder service rages on. Even as solution providers, ISPs and industry observers blast what they characterize as VeriSign's hijacking of Web traffic, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company stands firm.
When Web surfers type an incorrect .com or .net URL they are now sent to Site Finder, a VeriSign site that offers tips for finding the intended destination. The site also suggests alternative sites and links to ad-sponsored sites, which has critics on a tear. They maintain that VeriSign, which controls the popular .com and .net domains under a contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), has abdicated its responsibility as a neutral arbiter and registry of domain names in return for ad revenue.
Solution providers--and even ICANN--have blasted the move as contributing to instability on the Web. ICANN asked VeriSign to stop the service last Friday, a request that VeriSign refused. (See story.)
In an interview with CRN Wednesday, VeriSign Chairman and CEO Stratton Sclavos remained adamant about the situation and characterized Site Finder critics as a "vocal minority."
More details at: http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20030926S0003
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