Re: [alac] Redirection of non-existing domain names, again

[Vittorio Bertola <vb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 01:34:59 +0200, you wrote:

>The At-Large Advisory Committee is deeply concerned by Verisign's
>surprising roll-out of the "SiteFinder" service for .net, and the
>apparently imminent roll-out of that service for .com.  

Change this - apparently it's live for .com too.

>SiteFinder
>works by re-directing queries for non-existing domain names to the
>IP address of a search service that is being run by Verisign.
>
>This practice raises grave technical concerns, as it de facto
>removes error diagnostics from the DNS protocol, and replaces them
>by an error handling method that is tailored for HTTP, which is just
>one of the many Internet protocols that make use of the DNS. We will
>leave it for others to explain the details of these concerns, but
>note that returning resource records in a way which is countrary to
>the very design of the DNS certainly does not promote the stability
>of the Internet.
>
>These concerns are not mitigated by Verisign's efforts to work
>around the consequences of breaking the Internet's design on a
>service-by-service basis, in particular since the work-arounds
>deployed depend on the global reachability of Verisign's redirection
>infrastructure.
>
>That infrastructure has already become unreachable few hours after
>the service was initially deployed, confronting Internet users with
>misleading network timeout error messages instead of
>quickly-delivered and accurate "no such domain name" errors.
>
>When working as intended, the service centralizes error handling
>decisions at the registry that are rightly made in application
>software run on users' computers.  Users are deprived of the
>opportunity to chose those error handling strategies best suited for
>their needs, by chosing appropriate products available on a
>competitive marketplace. Software makers are deprived of the
>opportunity to compete by developing innovative tools that best
>match the user's needs.
>
>We would recommend that the board take whatever steps are necessary
>to stop this service.

I would add "IMMEDIATELY". Ok, not capitalized :)
Let's release this by today. Thomas, if you could send the final version to
the list, then I would ask Roberto to forward it to the Board.
-- 
vb.               [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<------
--------> http://bertola.eu.org/ - Archivio FAQ e molto altro... <--------