[wildcard-comments] SiteFinder "Service"

[Scott Walters <scott@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

1. A domain name requires an exact match, but American trademark laws
protects use of names used in a context (such as software or automotive),
as well as confusingly similiar name. It has been ruled anti-competetive
to attach an outside branding to another brand without permission.

2. VeriSign elludes to own the Internet. People familiar with VeriSign's
past politics or the neurtal history of the Internet are unhappy with
this.

3. "By using this service, you agree to the terms of the service.." -
users are litteraly forced to use this service against their will, 
and by doing so, an assertion is made that they have surrendered
certain rights. While probably unenforceiable, this supports #2.

4. It sets a precident for other monied interests to fight over 
ownership of bits and peices of the Internet. This would offer short
term boons to a very few very select companies that had been trusted
by the pulic to do a job for a price, but it would ultimately
destroy the Internet as a ubiquitous, neutral platform. It is
currently practise that an ISP won't filter the direction or
type traffic from a host, or arbitrarily restrict the operating
system or hardware used, but centralized ownership of key technologies
by irresponsible parties might ultimately change that. 

5. Link check spiders are broken; potential future uses of DNS, besides
those already broken, may now be impossible.

6. Failure of VeriSign to act responsibly will damage public good
faith in the authoratative DNS system, and will raise interest in
alternate DNS roots, creating chaos and segmentation. Software, ISPs,
standards, and written documentation will have a whole new mode
of failure to consider.

My peers and myself see this as a short sighted, reckless, power hungry
ploy. Massive public outcry has been a comfort, and we all hope for a
speedy resolution.

Thank you for your current attention and your recent action.
-scott