VeriSign told to pull '404' redirect service

The agency that oversees internet domain names has asked VeriSign to voluntarily suspend a new service that redirects web surfers to its own site when they seek to access unassigned web addresses, rather than return an error message.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Friday posted a notice on its web site discussing its response to the so-called wildcard service, which launched on 15 September and sends users to a VeriSign page with search results including links to paid advertisements. VeriSign runs the registry for the .com and .net domains - among the most widely used top level domains on the web - which are the domains affected by the wildcard service.

ICANN said it is investigating complaints over the wildcard service and asked VeriSign to pull it pending further study. The service effectively replaces the common "404 page not found error" that until now has been the default for absent web addresses.

The agency said in a notice posted on its web site: "Recognising the concerns about the wildcard service, ICANN has called upon VeriSign to voluntarily suspend the service until the various reviews now under way are completed."

On Saturday, the Internet Architecture Board also weighed in on the controversy with an analysis of domain name system (DNS) wildcards. The group recommended that "DNS wildcards should not be used in a zone unless the zone operator has a clear understanding of the risks, and that they should not be used without the informed consent of those entities which have been delegated below the zone".

Criticism has been growing over VeriSign's surprise decision to take control of unassigned .com and .net domain names, which has confused anti-spam utilities and drawn angry denunciations of the company's business practices from frustrated network administrators.

Verisign could not immediately be reached for comment but last week, the company stood by its service.

"There is a lot of fiction about the actual technology and the service," VeriSign spokesman Brian O'Shaughnessy told CNET News.com last week. "What we are doing is trying to determine fact and fiction and we're doing so by reaching out to the technology community and helping them to understand exactly what is fact and fiction."

VeriSign is not alone in seeking to replace 404 errors. Microsoft has also directed users of its Internet Explorer Web browser to a Microsoft search page when typing unassigned domain names into the browser's URL bar.

Evan Hansen writes for CNET News.com. Declan McCullagh contributed to this report