Verisign has added wildcards aka world wide 404 page
 

Type anything that is not a real domain name and you now get verisign's search page. :(

http://whateveryyoufeelliketyping.com

So I'm a whore, how do I get my sites to come up on their search page?

I only get verisign about 30% of the time... not sure what the pattern is.

Ummm, I am starting to think you folks got virused...

Cleo, is that only on your IE browser, or on another brower?

host file replacements often do that. check your default search... also, what do you get when you go to yahoo or google?

Alex

Not so sure Alex
http://news.google.co.uk/news?q=veri...sa=N&scoring=d

I'm using Mozilla, but it does it in any browser.

Here is the Slashdot article.

If this is the case, then Verisign is going to get their dicks slapped hard for this one. I can see this as being actionable by the FTC for creating unfair competition, and for mixing their mandates and allowing their sales arm to bypass or avoid policy in place in thr area they operate in the public trust (the top level name space).

This might be the move that makes the government take action to take the top level name space away from a commecial company and move it into a more "public" or non-profit situation, away from the presures to allow it's parent to make money.

Verisign sucks donkey dicks.

Alex

Unfortunately since Verisign owns the tld they can do whatever the hell they want....the only way to block it is to have your ISP enter their IP for that search page to prevent it....
.us and .info tld owners have always done this

what they are doing is redirecting all non-owned domain names to their page...unfortunately for them they cant handle the traffic which is why you see it intermittently

also think about the real benefit they will get from this....as of right now they arent getting any perclick pay for it...but they are getting good stats on which mistypes to buy and post for profit

looks like they are using some form of a combination of alltheweb and looksmart results for their searches so if you rank well on those, you will actually get a little benefit boost :)
but gotta agree.....it sucks, but it is an easy way to find out if there is a misspell domain for sale LOL

Linkster, if any other equivilant domain registrar had tried this, they would have been crucified on the spot, and would have been charged the $6 or whatever it is PER DOMAIN for holding domains. Instead, they hold every possible domain not registered for free, and profit from it (trust me, those search results are either being paid for or will be soon!)

It is against the rules that Verisign themselves put in place for the .com and .net area.

Just as importantly, it makes it impossible to filter spam by checking to see if the domain sending exists or not (a very good way to get rid of spam, actually). Now all domains return active, so those filters no longer work.

It is an asshole move by one of the most assholic companies on the net. Arrogant bastards!

Alex

Fortunately their doing a redirect so it should be easy to pick up....but I do totally agree with you Alex - and hopefully MS is smart enough to come out with a "security patch" that will fix this so they can continue redirecting the novices to MSN :)

Linkster, to me MS is well within bounds, I chose to use their software. I chose to use IE. I accept that there are things within IE that are to the advantage of the company that wrote it.

If I don't like it, I can use netscape, or lynx, or any number of other browser options.

Verisign ain't giving me a choice... as a matter of fact, they basically overwrote my choice in this case...

Can't wait to see the shit this turns up.

Alex

Alex...I agree in a way..however remember that they own the network of domain tlds and infrastructure...when ICANN gets ready to put this up for bid (if they ever do) the price has just gone up considerably.

One other thing to look at is the advantages that can be taken in this situation as there are a few....my opinion here only....but as there is probably going to be some small backlash from a few companies when it comes to trademarks...Im pretty sure its not going to be long lasting unless they realize the profit potential and can fight off the lawyers and general complaints.

I have to think that there is a way to gain an advantage while this happening :)

Here is a Wired Article saying that there is going to be a patch for BIND blocking this crap.

Here is more on the patch for BIND,
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/09/18/isc/