ICANN has posted the following announcement to their website, asking
Verisign to stop the SiteFinder service within 48 hours:
http://www.icann.org/announcements/advisory-03oct03.htm
Its finally over (for the now...):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40241-2003Oct3.html
VeriSign Freezes Search Service
VeriSign Inc., the firm that operates a key piece of the Internet's
address system, said it would temporarily shut down a new service that
makes money off the typos of Web users after the Internet's oversight body
threatened to take legal action against the company
Earlier today, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
President Paul Twomey sent a letter to VeriSign demanding that the company
take the service down or face legal consequences. Under its contracts with
VeriSign ICANN can impose up to $100,000 in fines or strip the company of
its authority to operate the registries that handle dot-com and dot-net
Internet addresses.
"Without so much as a hearing, ICANN today formally asked us to shut down
the Site Finder service," said VeriSign spokesman Tom Galvin. "We will
accede to their request while we explore all of our options."
...
VeriSign also angered the close-knit group of engineers and scientists who
are familiar with the technology underpinning the Internet. They say that
Site Finder undermines the worldwide Domain Name System, causing e-mail
systems, spam-blocking technology ano other applications to malfunction.
VeriSign said the claims are overblown.
"There is no data to indicate the core operation of the domain name system
or the stability of the Internet has been adversely affected," VeriSign's
Galvin said. "ICANN is using anecdotal and isolated issues in an attempt
to assert a dubious right to regulate non-registry services."
Before agreeing to take down Site Finder, VeriSign had promised to work
with the Internet community to iron out any glitches triggered by Site
Finder.
Site Finder has triggered the first real showdown between VeriSign -- the
world's largest Internet addressing company -- and ICANN, the group
created by the U.S. government to bring order and competition to the
growing online world.
"War is breaking out between the regulators and the people they regulate.
This is a real power struggle [over] who controls the rules on the
Internet going forward," said said Paxfire's Lewyn.