VeriSign Ignores ICANN Request To Suspend New Service- WP
Monday, September 29, 2003 12:40 AM ET
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A long-simmering debate over who controls the Internet boiled over as VeriSign Inc. (VRSN, news), the firm that operates a key piece of the Internet address system, defied a request from its oversight body to suspend a new service it launched to make money off the typos of Web surfers, The Washington Post reports in its Monday edition.
Critics alleged that VeriSign abused its monopoly power when it set up a service to steer Web surfers to its own online directory when they incorrectly typed Internet addresses, the Post said. Moreover, some engineers alleged that VeriSign's service has triggered a cascade of unwanted side effects on the Internet, such as weakening anti-spam e-mail filters. VeriSign countered that it is simply helping Web surfers find what they are looking for and insisted that its service, dubbed SiteFinder, is within its contractual powers.
VeriSign officials said they would not comply with a request issued last Monday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN, news), a sort of regulatory body, to shut down the service while experts explore its effects, according to the Post. |
