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Why it's time to rein in ICANN
December 2, 2003
What happens when you get lost on the Internet?
That question is hardly theoretical. It has become the basis of a major Internet regulation feud, one that might determine who shapes the next era of the Net.
At the heart of the dispute is the launch of Site Finder, a service created by VeriSign, the company that years ago was given responsibility for domain name registry databases for .com, .net and .org domains. Site Finder helps solve what is often known in the communications industry as the "fat fingers" problem: Web surfers who inadvertently type in an incorrect or misspelled Internet address.
It's a familiar problem. Millions of Internet users get lost online each day by typing misspelled or incorrect Web site domain names. Usually, they see an unhelpful "Error" page or, even worse, an unwanted pornography site. But in recent months, several companies have moved to provide something more useful: They divert so-called trash traffic to a search page. VeriSign sends trash traffic to Site Finder, which offers a list of alternative sites.
America Online offers a similar function. Google does it. So does Microsoft's MSN Internet access service. And NeuStar, which administers the registry of Web addresses ending in .biz and .us, has tested its own service to redirect all misspelled or nonexistent Web addresses ending in .biz and .us to a search engine page.
More details at: http://news.com.com/2010-1028_3-5112397.html?type=pt&part=inv&tag=feed&subj=news
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