Even more evil from Verisign

Verisign (the evil corporation that bought the evil Network Solutions, NSI) has just committed another atrocity. Earlier today, they decided that rather than returning errors when someone accesses an invalid domain name (e.g., a typo like www.niisto.com) they'll instead redirect that to some valid domain (reportedly slipping in some Verisign advertising and/or tracking in the process).

A lot more details are available on Slashdot.

This situation is prompting some folks to talk about making a complete break with the whole centralized NSI/ICANN root server setup. A couple possibilities already developing are the Open Root Server Confederation and the OpenNIC: Democratic Name System.

There are a few other articles of interest:

• Silicon Valley Biz Ink: Verisign set to dump lagging 'Net registrar.
• BetaNews: VeriSign Service Hijacks Unused Domains.
• Advogato: Crossing the line.
• The Inquirer: ICANN up in arms at Verisign DNS hijacking.
• Rentzsch.com: Verisign Wildcarding.