Arranged by the Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) security and stability advisory committee (SECSAC), the meeting follows the outcry that followed VeriSign’s introduction of Site Finder on September 15.
It coincided with VeriSign’s public relations drive stepping up its pace in the online media, defending Site Finder, which was turned off last week at the behest of ICANN, which has concerns about its impact on the stability of the internet. Since then, the two parties have been trading legal threats.
VeriSign characterizes the conflict as a struggle between those who innovate (i.e. VeriSign) and the vocal minority who strive to hold the Internet back.
The ‘minority’ played the innovation card during the meeting, drawing the line between innovation at the edge (end users running new killer apps that use IP) and innovation in the infrastructure.
They argue that infrastructure providers are in the unique position that users have no way of choosing to not use them. If a new application comes out that breaks standards, people may not use it. With DNS resolution, they have no choice.
Verisign uses the ‘wildcard’ fields in the DNS protocol to return a VeriSign web page, instead of an error message, when an Internet user misspells a .com or .net domain name.
It goes on to argue that Internet Engineering Task Force standards explicitly address the use of a wildcard and that Site Finder is fully compliant with the relevant RFCs (requests for comment, IETF standards).
The introduction of Site Finder also raises the specter of tit-for-tat technological changes among the Internet’s big hitters having incremental ill effects on the operation and interoperability of the Internet, the panel heard.
A second SECSAC meeting, the subject of which will be the testing data gained during Site Finder’s brief existence that VeriSign has promised to provide, is due to take place in a couple of weeks time
This article was based on material originally published by ComputerWire.
