RE: Change to .com/.net behavior

["David Schwartz" <davids () webmaster com>]

> > I've implemented the official ISC Bind hack on every single one of my
> > name servers and am pushing it and the configuration changes out to my
> > customers as a *required* upgrade.

> that seems a bit extreme.  shouldn't they get to decide this for
> themselves?

        Returning NXDOMAIN when a domain does not exist is a basic requirement.
Failure to do so creates security problems. It is reasonable to require your
customers to fix known breakage that creates security problems.

        VeriSign has a public trust to provide accurate domain information for the
COM and NET zones. They have decided to put their financial interest in
obscuring this information ahead of their public trust.

        Microsoft, for example, specifically designed IE to behave in a particular
way when an unregistered domain was entered. Verisigns wildcard record is
explicitly intended to break this detection. The wildcard only works if
software does not treat it as if the domain wasn't registered even though it
is not.

        Verisign has created a business out of fooling software through failure to
return a 'no such domain' indication when there is no such domain, in breach
of their public trust. As much as Verisign was obligated not to do this,
others are obligated not to propogate the breakage. ISPs operate DNS servers
for their customers just as Verisign operates the COM and NET domains for
the public.

        DS