Much worse is the effect this will have on email - checking for non-existent domains is a good way of blocking spam, and indeed just verifying email addresses. Also, as VeriSign are running a mail server that rejects all messages, old or incorrect MX records which previously be ignored will now cause all email to a domain to be bounced.
Update 1: Ooh! More fun! Any DNS blacklists (again popular for blocking spam) which no longer exist (eg orbs.dorkslayers.com) will now have sprung back into life listing every address on the internet - meaning more false positives in junk mail blockers.
Update 2: Here's a good article written a couple of hours after this started. There is, of course, much discussion on Slashdot, and an article on The Register (with quotes from my boss,
alnitak). VeriSign's posting about it on NANOG can be found here, and there's apparently much backlash to be found there too.Update 3: One other concern this raises is privacy/security - every mis-typed URL or email address that goes to a non-existant .com or .net domain will now hit VeriSign's servers - and their terms and conditions state that they will keep that information - what email addresses you were trying to send to and from, what websites you were trying to visit (including any form parameters, potentially including usernames and passwords). How nice.
Update 4: This doesn't just happen to un-registered domains - it also applies to domains which are paid for and owned by someone who just happens not to have st up any DNS servers for it. Leading to even further dubious legality.
WAY TO BREAK THE INTERNET!!!!!
Needless to say, large numbers of ISPs and the like will be looking to take their domain registration and SSL certificate business elsewhere.
September 16 2003, 03:37:49 UTC 17 years ago
It would certainly seem so. Besides the whole breaking of the internet, they've quite possibly destroyed their registrar business, as nobody with an ounce of technical knowledge will want to do business with them ever again - expect a big drop in new registrations, and domains being transferred away shortly before renwal time.
And you're absolutely right about the legalities given that they are a registar as well as the registry - lawsuits certainly sound plausible, and I won't be the least bit surprised if ICANN come under pressure to revoke their ownership of the .com and .no registries.
September 16 2003, 03:53:35 UTC 17 years ago
If I was a registrar, I would want to hold on to all expiring domains registered through me from now on and not release them back into shared registry, to prevent VeriSign from profiting from them. This would completely break the system, since those domains could not be registered again through other registrars, though.
What VeriSign is doing is only possible, because they manage the root AND sell registrations at the same time. I hope this finally leads to the DNS management being moved to an independant non-profit organisation, as it should have been from the start.
September 16 2003, 13:32:31 UTC 17 years ago