September 22, 2003 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (icann.org) said Friday that it has asked VeriSign (verisign.com) to voluntarily suspend changes it made to domain name service zones amidst what ICANN said in an advisory are “widespread expressions of concern from the Internet community.”
According to ICANN, it has been monitoring community reaction to the “wildcard service,” which helps users reach their Internet destinations when URLs are mistyped or spelled incorrectly, since its deployment on September 15.
The VeriSign wildcard service redirects traffic that would otherwise have resulted in a “no domain” response to a VeriSign-operated Web site with search results and links to paid advertisements. Critics have said that the service gives a private company too much control over online commerce and lets it profit from an essential monopoly over “.com” and “.net” names.
ICANN has called upon VeriSign to voluntarily suspend the service until the various reviews underway are completed.
