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VeriSign resolves all non-registered .coms and .nets to a search site

notnamed

notnamed

/fws/
NLC
Hey, hope no one left IE for an alternative browser because of the MSN search feature when a domain you entered wasn't registered...because VeriSign has gone and put wildcards in the DNS system.
That's right, any domain that isn't registered now resolves to VeriSign's own search page.
More
 
They're certainly not happy if the comments are any indication. It won't last long; there are probably quite a few at the moment working on bringing the server(s) down that host this search site.
 
I still get Firebird's alert box...

"www.dsasdfasf.com could not be found. Please check the name and try again."
 
Well .. on their defense.. the "404" page isn't branded saying "This page can't be found, Why not Register it?" .. it just has a search engine.

I think it's a good thing....
 
Originally posted by notnamed
Hey, hope no one left IE for an alternative browser because of the MSN search feature when a domain you entered wasn't registered...because VeriSign has gone and put wildcards in the DNS system.
That's right, any domain that isn't registered now resolves to VeriSign's own search page.
More
Click to expand...

No wonder www.ulimband.com couldn't be found.
 
Well .. on their defense.. the "404" page isn't branded saying "This page can't be found, Why not Register it?" .. it just has a search engine.

I think it's a good thing....
Click to expand...

Nice Idea Robert, however i'll have to disagree...

there are a number of different reasons, the first is probably search engine spiders... spiders will follow some dead or incorrect links from one page, to be redirected to this new search site by verisign, where it would go to another few thousand pages... Imagine the congestion.

Another thing is antispam software,.. I believe that a number work on a reverse DNS lookup of the sender,.. so if I SPAM you with a b/s email domain: (Ispammed@myhouse.com) then your anti-spam software does a quick lookup to see if myhouse.com exists. and 9/10 spammers probably don't send from correct address'.

However now, thanks to verisign, all these bunk domain names WILL go somewhere.

Also, I don't think they were DoS attacked 7trax, I know that in my browser (Opera) I get an error message... I don't get redirected... seems to only be a few browsers.
 
I'm using Opera/7.11 (Linux 2.4.18-14 i586; U) [en] and don't get redirected...

Even on Mozilla, I just get a time out...

As for the search, I think it'd be best for a quick message informing the user the domain name is not registered, and having a fair search - as in like Google, where its free to get your page indexed. You get the idea...

No profit for them = me :)
 
Originally posted by chinw
Nice Idea Robert, however i'll have to disagree...

there are a number of different reasons, the first is probably search engine spiders... spiders will follow some dead or incorrect links from one page, to be redirected to this new search site by verisign, where it would go to another few thousand pages... Imagine the congestion.

Another thing is antispam software,.. I believe that a number work on a reverse DNS lookup of the sender,.. so if I SPAM you with a b/s email domain: (Ispammed@myhouse.com) then your anti-spam software does a quick lookup to see if myhouse.com exists. and 9/10 spammers probably don't send from correct address'.

However now, thanks to verisign, all these bunk domain names WILL go somewhere.

Also, I don't think they were DoS attacked 7trax, I know that in my browser (Opera) I get an error message... I don't get redirected... seems to only be a few browsers.
Click to expand...

These issues have already been brought up. and a patch has already been created to prevent it, though I haven't looked into it.

But at least they haven't branded with their site and services like other people would do (ahem CiHost, Ahem Microsoft, Ahem RackShack).
 
Originally posted by Robert
These issues have already been brought up. and a patch has already been created to prevent it, though I haven't looked into it.

But at least they haven't branded with their site and services like other people would do (ahem CiHost, Ahem Microsoft, Ahem RackShack).
Click to expand...

Ahh true, I looked into it and they have included the robots.txt file for search engines like google etc... however there are allot of other spiders that crawl around the net that most people are unaware of, and that robots.txt isn't compatible with..
The first that comes to mind is spammers... they crawl the net with their own email-retrieving spiders,.. logging every e-mail address they come across.

To view the robots.txt file, just follow this links http://sitefinder.verisign.com/robots.txt

and your correct that they haven't branded the site with their own logo's etc... yet.

However they have branded to a certain extent.. just in a different way,..

If you search for domain names in the search bar, surprise surprise, Network Solutions comes back as the first result.

In google you get Netsol as the fourth result.

Maybe just a difference in search technology,.. however from Versign's shady past, and what I personally think of their business morals, I tend to not give them the benefit of the doubt.
 
not just unregistered domains but if your domains don't have a dns setting it will go to sitefinder too. bullshit, i hope someone sues these ----s. some isp's are blocking it, hopefully more will. according to some articles i've read, they stand to make 1 million dollars a day off this.
 
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Not sure about you guys, but any unresolved domain for me turns up an error and not Versign's Search page..
 
Its easy to bypass, email them saying you dont agree to the TOS for the SiteFinder service and you want your IP blocked. Bam, done. Also many ISP's, well, customer focused ISP's have blocked it already.
 
Maybe you don't see it since some isp's block it as jason posted? I still see it and I think it is a very bad thing. Hope my isp block it soon.

Can someone post some articles about them earning millions of dollars per day?
 
Originally posted by Peo
Maybe you don't see it since some isp's block it as jason posted? I still see it and I think it is a very bad thing. Hope my isp block it soon.

Can someone post some articles about them earning millions of dollars per day?
Click to expand...

It's not the millions of dollars they get per day, it's the millons of viewers they get! Imagine if they slapped a banner on that puppy, whoa that's over a million impressions a day!
 
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