Whenever you make a request for a web page, say web.morons.org, and the numerical address for that named page isn't cached with your ISP already, your request must be forwarded on to the Internet's root servers. The root servers for .com, .net, .biz, .org, .info and so-on have a record of where the requester can find the answer to the question. For example, the .org server knows that questions about morons.org can be found on the morons.org server. The request is then sent to the appropriate server.

As you might imagine, those who control the major root servers weild a huge amount of power and also have a great deal of responsibility. Domain information must be accurate and kept up-to-date. The servers must be kept in good technical running order and resistant to attacks. Operation of a key component of the Internet is not a task to be taken lightly. Sadly, Verisign, which manages the .com and .net domains, takes its responsibility in vain.

They've started resolving all unknown domains to themselves. Why? To make money off people who make typos or who are looking to see if a domain is in use. Mind you, the scores of other registrars who sell domains for .com and .net don't have this power. Only Verisign can do this. Only Verisign, in whom all the power and responsibility for running .com and .net is vested, has the capability to show people who make typos a web page to sell them something.

You can see this for yourself with the nslookup tool or an nslookup gateway (search for A and PTR records below respectively):

nslookup someDomainNameThatIsCertainNotToExistHugalaguhagug.com
Name: someDomainNameThatIsCertainNotToExistHugalaguhagug.com
Address: 64.94.110.11

nslookup 64.94.110.11
Name: sitefinder-idn.verisign.com
Address: 64.94.110.11

Try it for any number of domains and you'll see the same result. Amusingly enough, since Verisign opened the floodgates of typos the web site at that IP address has been unavailable.

Which brings me to another interesting point. They've sorta short themselves in the foot in their arrogance. Every silly bogus domain name on the web resolves to them. Every address containing the word NOSPAM resolves to them. Every cloaked or spoofed address on IRC resolves to them. All your spam are belong to Verisign. All your Distributed Denial of Service Attacks are belong to Verisign. Not only is Verisign arrogant, but they're also stupid.

Verisign has gone way out of line here in abusing the power that was vested in them for commercial gain. No single company should ever have this kind of power over the Internet. We'd all be much better off if the root servers were managed by ICANN or the IETF directly, not by these bozos.

---Nick

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