Verisign on Process

Mailman List Mirror (Read Only)
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Both here and in private mail, people have been talking about Verisign's view of the process. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the afternoon part of yesterday's ICANN ISSC committee meeting.

But Declan McCullough was there, and picked up an interesting quote from Verisign:

By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
http://news.com.com/2100-1038-5088128.html

Legal and policy questions were not on the agenda, and VeriSign representatives repeatedly objected when the discussion veered in that direction.

"Are we going to focus on security and stability, or usability?" asked VeriSign's Ben Turner, saying the committee's mandate was too narrow to include broader questions about Site Finder.

Stephen Crocker, one of the Internet's original architects and the ICANN committee's chairman, asked VeriSign why the wild card was introduced without giving network operators any warning. "I know for a fact that VeriSign has no problem finding its way to those (technical discussion) forums," Crocker said, referring to the company's ongoing participation in them.

"I don't want to go beyond the agenda," replied Chuck Gomes, VeriSign's vice president for its registry service. Citing concerns of proprietary information and competitive advantage, he added that he didn't think he could guarantee any advance notice of similar changes in the future.

Gomes' position truly bothers me if a registry, given that it meets the formal definition of a technical monopoly, is planning around competitive advantage.

Other speakers pointed out that the functionality of Sitefinder could be implemented at the edge, not breaking the end-to-end assumption and still allowing innovation. Internet Explorer, for example, has such functionality.

MS and VS. Reminds me of some recent wars where observers were sad that only one side could lose. :slight_smile:

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Gomes' position truly bothers me if a registry, given that it meets
the formal definition of a technical monopoly, is planning around
competitive advantage.

I think its definately a sign that the verisign hegemony over domain
registration needs to be removed. If they're going to be so irresponsible
as to misuse a public trust, they need to be nixed.

Other speakers pointed out that the functionality of Sitefinder could
be implemented at the edge, not breaking the end-to-end assumption
and still allowing innovation. Internet Explorer, for example, has
such functionality.

MS and VS. Reminds me of some recent wars where observers were sad
that only one side could lose. :slight_smile:

I think that might be one way to have Verisign quashed - use the
monopolies to smash eachother.
Think about how much money MS lost due to sitefinder...

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I think this is the basic problem between Verisign & the network operators.

The registry service should have no competitive advantage. It is a public trust, a monopoly granted with the assumption it will be run with the best interests of the Internet, not in the best interest of Versign's bottom line.

I am all for capitalism, would not have it any other way. Verisign has said that we are upset over commercialization. They are dead wrong, period, end of sentence. We are (well, *I* am) upset they are costing me money and doing it using a monopoly we granted them to serve us.

Contrary to their belief, they do not own and may not use the registry in any way the community feels is detrimental to the community as a whole. This is most obviously viewed as detrimental by the community.

They are so adamant in their position I sometimes wonder if they honestly believe their own arguments. It has to be they either do not understand, or they are intentionally misleading the press and end users to do something they know is wrong. Any bets on which it is? Anyone care which one it is?