verisign redirecting nonworking urls

[Mister X]

So this has been in the news today. Verisign, by virtue of their control of the .net and .com domains, is now redirecting all misspelled or non-working .com or .net urls to their own search page. I was curious so I tried typing in lannibarbei.com to see what would happen. Sure enough I got redirected to this url: http://sitefinder.verisign.com/lpc?url=lannibarbei.com&host=lannibarbei.com
There is a choice of 3 possible similar urls to what I typed in. lannibarbie.com, lannybarbie.com and barbei.com. The first 2 urls are great. The first one we own and the second is owned by Dugmor and redirects to the first. The 3rd URL is a registered misspelling of barbie.com of course. It first pops up a box saying that I am infected with some virus or other and telling me to click yes to download the fix. What the download actually is I have no idea. After closing the box it redirects to USseek.com with a page of listings about (surprise!) barbie dolls.

Underneath the 3 similar urls to what I typed is a fairly small area with directory categories.

So anyway Verisign is being sued by one of the toolbar companies that use their software to redirect such things to their own site. Because verisign controls the dns the toolbar vendor is now shit out of luck. And of course you are no longer going to see the microsoft search page which is the default in IE.

A lot of people seem to be outraged by the whole thing because Verisign is "abusing" their monopoly. Personally I say, So what? The page got me where I wanted to go and it was a hell of a lot more relevant than the stuff that microsft puts up a lot of the time. I guess Verisign is gonna make some good money off of it. If they don't start with the dirty tricks like the guys that registered barbei.com then I say great.

[Mister X]

Just for fun check this url: http://sitefinder.verisign.com/lpc?url=nxations.com&host=nxations.com

[Mister X]

I tried collegefuckfets.com... but it went to collegefuckfest.com... hehe... someone was on the ball there. :D

[Mister X]

Hmmmm... interesting. http://sitefinder.verisign.com/lpc?url=collegefukcfest.com&host=collegefukcfest.com

It seems that they didn't register 1 misspelling. BUT if you go to that page cold you see no results at all. You have to go down to the bottom of the page and click the "content filtering preferences" link. The default is "partial filtering" which is defined as: "Explicit content is removed from category results and presented last in search results". You have to select no filtering for adult content results to show up in the similar urls listing. Really not sure I like that but I guess they don't want to be accused of giving porn to kiddies, lol.

Also it seems, at least at the beginning, that the "adult content" filter isn't 100 percent effective seeing as how the results for "lannibarbei.com" DID show up with filtering turned on. Which is probably a good thing.

[Mister X]

Okay one last post. http://sitefinder.verisign.com/terms.jsp
that document is somewhat troubling. It contains the following:
"AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND.
By using the service(s) provided by VeriSign under these Terms of Use, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by all terms and conditions here in and documents incorporated by reference."

The whole idea of a service agreement for something that you have no choice in whether or not you use it seems to be pretty iffy. And the idea that Verisign basically forces you to use the service and so you are "bound" to abide by this document is fuckin' ridiculous.

That's like saying: "I punched you in the face so you are required to agree that it's okay for me to punch you in the face."

[Mister X]

OK. I lied. :blush:

But this was just tooooo bizarre to let it go by:
"When we are threatened with suit or sued by a third party, we may seek written assurances from you concerning your promise to indemnify us; your failure to provide those assurances may be considered by us to be a material breach of these Terms of Use."

HUH? If somebody sues them and you don't give them an affidavit saying their good guys then you aren't allowed to misspell any more urls anymore? Is that really what they are saying there? I think it is.

And how the hell can they require me to do anything when they shouldn't even know who I am? I think I better read their privacy policy......
"Personal Information
We do not collect any personal information from visitors to our Site Finder. Under no circumstances do we collect any personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, or sex life."

Damn. That's a relief. I was afraid they would tell everyone I was a gay catholic teamster!
:bonk:

[StuartD]

what? They're redirecting non-working urls? This is the first time I've heard this.... since... 3 weeks ago. No wait, I heard about it again last week when a company filed a law suit against them.

Come to think about it... I've heard a lot about it in the past couple of months :D

[wsjb78]

You did not notice that about 1 1/2 weeks ago when VeriSign added wildcard domains?

Anyway, the ISC did release a patch for Bind that will not direct anything to VeriSign. I don't know if VS did meanwhile remove the wildcard entries in the A records since ICANN and the IAB and others asked them to do but I know I don't get to sitefinder anymore :)

[Mister X]

Well obviously I still get to sitefinder, lol. I never really noticed it before yesterday because I guess I just don't make a shitload of mistakes in type-ins and I only really pay attention to this board. I still think it was a pretty good idea on their part but when you start interfering with Microsoft, et al you're bound to catch some flack, hehe.

[wsjb78]

this means your ISP did not install the BIND patch... want to use same DNS servers as me?

[skillfull]

that fucking bullshit
final dot

[wsjb78]

Those are the DNS Servers I use from my Cable Provider. They have the bind patch installed:

62.2.24.162
62.2.17.61

[Mister X]

It's not really something I care about one way or another anyway. The sitefinder page is actually more useful than the stupid microsoft garbage anyways.

[wsjb78]

If you enter full-urls you won't get the microsoft thing either

[Mister X]

I never type full urls. saves time to just type the domain name and then hold the ctrl key while you hit enter. Presto! www and .com are added automagically, lol.