this is how badly broken SiteFinder is

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
> Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 12:01:41 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Carl Malamud <carl () media org>
> Subject: this is how badly broken SiteFinder is
> To: dave () farber net
>
> I've heard some mumblings that VeriSign's hijack of .com and
> .net is simply a business issue.  Here's why it is so badly
> broken:
>
> bulk% dig a.net
>
> ; <<>> DiG 8.3 <<>> a.net
> ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
> ;; got answer:
> ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 2
> ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 13, ADDITIONAL: 13
> ;; QUERY SECTION:
> ;;      a.net, type = A, class = IN
>
> ;; ANSWER SECTION:
> a.net.                  15M IN A        64.94.110.11
>
> a.net is a reserved name.  IANA, which administers the names
> and protocol parameters that allow the Internet work,
> set aside one-letter names and said "these shall not resolve."
> The Internet is a cooperative system and it is based largely on
> a pact that we shall observe protocools.  VeriSign may be
> a business, but in the case of the DNS it is a regulated public
> utility, and as part of it's contract with ICANN it said it
> would observe the IANA rules.  ICANN (c|sh)ould scream contract
> violation and [threaten to] find another concessionee.
>
> Here's a second example.  A colleague of mine sent mail to a
> friend in Australia.  There was a transient network error.  His
> mail went to VeriSign and bounced.  What SHOULD have happened
> was his mail transfer agent would have seen that no DNS answer
> was received, and would have requeued the mail and tried again
> in five minutes.  Not only did the mail not get through to
> the intended recipient, VeriSign got the mail.  Now, I'm
> assuming they didn't have time to read it, but why in
> the world should they *ever* get those bits in the first place?
> Email is an end-to-end service, not conference call with
> VeriSign.
>
> Regards,
>
> Carl

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