March 4, 2004 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Domain registrar Go Daddy (godaddy.com) has sent a letter to the US Department of Commerce and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN.org) asking them to review VeriSign's exclusive registry position, the company announced on Wednesday. The company also said that it would be contributing $100,000 to ICANN in support of its defense against VeriSign, which filed a lawsuit against ICANN last week.
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In the letter, Go Daddy asked both bodies to review VeriSign's role as a top-level domain registry in light of VeriSign's recent actions, which GoDaddy describes as "disturbing to the overall state of the industry." The actions that have created the legal sparring include the implementation of the controversial site finder service and its proposed waiting list service. Both services are designed to help VeriSign make money and have been criticized by opponents as anti-competitive.
"VeriSign has shown that it is quite willing to place its own profitability before the well-being of the Internet," says Bob Parsons, president and founder of Go Daddy. "It is for the benefit of the entire Internet community that such behavior be put to a stop."
VeriSign alleges in its lawsuit that decisions made by ICANN's technical coordination body have prevented it from offering new services and claims that it has improperly attempted to become the de facto regulator of the domain name system. The actions, VeriSign alleges, violate the ICANN charter and existing agreements between VeriSign and ICANN.
GoDaddy's letter also expresses support for ICANN in its legal dispute, arguing that ICANN has acted within its limits and that VeriSign has overstepped its boundaries with the unauthorized introduction of new services. Citing both the site finder and proposed wait list service, Go Daddy said the services demonstrate the extent to which VeriSign attempts to exploit its position as the monopoly provider of the .com and .net registry.
"VeriSign is a huge, multi-billion dollar corporation. ICANN is a small, non-profit organization," says Parsons. "ICANN's principle purpose is to regulate the equitable operation of the domain name system. VeriSign has sued ICANN for doing exactly what it was designed to do."