LawMeme’s James Grimmelman looks at Verisign’s terms of service for its “Site finder” service and asks: VeriSign Hijacks DNS Typos . . . And Creates Binding Contracts?
VeriSign hasn’t been very popular lately. Its “SiteFinder” program, which basically redirects all failed .net and .com DNS lookups to its own site, has been drawing intense criticism. “Breaks the entire Internet” is at the milder end of the complaints.
Attention so far has been focusing on the ethics of the move (positively satanic), its effects on DNS and non-Web applications (Considered Harmful), and on possible technical responses (Software Aimed at Blocking VeriSign’s Search Program). On the legal side of the fence, though, we’re not just talking about a can of worms. We’re talking about an oil drum of Arcturan Flesh-Eating Tapeworms.
