Verisign takes over domain name error messages

Verisign serves the Site Finder search engine instead of domain name error messages.

(September 25 2003) Some of our readers have asked us what the new default "Site Finder" search engine is. It appears every time someone enters a non-existing domain name in the browser address field, like for instance www.alksjdhfkljashdf.com.

The Site Finder search engine is the result of a controversial move made by Verisign, the company that administers the .com and .net domains. It hijacks all request that goes to non-existing domain, and delivers its own default "error page" to anyone who misspells a URL. It is this error page that includes the Site Finder search engine.

This means trouble for several anti-spam software developers, who make use of the traditional error messages to determine whether an address is valid or not.

The search engine Gigablast also complains, as the company now have to stop its spiders from spidering the Site Finder page over and over again. After all, the spiders do not get the necessary "not found" messages.

Popular Enterprises LLC of Orlando, operator of the Netster.com search site, is seeking an injunction barring Verisign from running the Site Finder as well as damages of up to US$100 million. Netster offers a toolbar that gives users another default error page, and this page has now been taken over by Verisign.

Verisign has also been sued by the Internet registrar Go Daddy. We would also guess that Microsoft is not too happy about this. The Internet Explorer normally resolves errors like this to the MSN.com search engine.

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has asked Verisign to suspend Site Finder. Verisign does not comply.

Verisign says that the deployment of "a wildcard" in the ".com and .net zones" was done after many months of testing and analysis: "All indications are that users, important members of the internet community we all serve, are benefiting from the improved web navigation offered by Site Finder."

The new "wildcard" page does indeed offer some suggestions regarding the correct address of the site you were looking for. Verisign, however, also adds its own search engine and links to relevant directory categories.

The search engine results are fetched from the Inktomi search engine. There's nothing wrong with that. But Verisign also includes pay-per-click search results from Overture, and that's where the money is.

This means that Verisign is using "undeserved" traffic for generating revenue. They may have a legal right to do so, but many people considers the Net a public good and object to being taken to a page they have not asked for.

Now it's up to the lawyers to determine if this is "spam".

SiliconValley.com and MacCentral have more.
Site Finder help page.
Stop Verisign DNS Abuse Petition.
See also Verisign's response and Webmaster World discussion.

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