From: Toll, Eric (etollvipstructures.com)
Date: Wed Sep 24 2003 - 07:38:38 CDT

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http://www.icann.org/announcements/advisory-19sep03.htm

Advisory Concerning VeriSign's Deployment of DNS Wildcard Service

On 15 September 2003, VeriSign deployed a "wildcard" service into the .com
and .net Top Level Domain zones. VeriSign's wildcard creates a
registry-synthesized address record in response to lookups of domains that
are not otherwise present in the zone (including restricted names,
unregistered names, and registered but inactive names). The VeriSign
wildcard redirects traffic that would otherwise have resulted in a "no
domain" response to a VeriSign-operated website with search results and
links to paid advertisements.
Since the deployment, ICANN has been monitoring community reaction,
including analysis of the technical effects of the wildcard, and is
carefully reviewing the terms of the .com and .net Registry Agreements.
In response to widespread expressions of concern from the Internet community
about the effects of the introduction of the wildcard, ICANN has requested
advice from its Security and Stability Advisory Committee, and from the
Internet Architecture Board, on the impact of the changes implemented by
VeriSign. ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee is expected to
release an objective expert report concerning the wildcard later today.
Recognizing the concerns about the wildcard service, ICANN has called upon
VeriSign to voluntarily suspend the service until the various reviews now
underway are completed.

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