Open letter: Twomey to Lewis
ICANN CEO Paul Twomey lays out the issues in no uncertain terms: Verisign is to shut off the SiteFinder service that they launched in September. Verisign began redirecting traffic of users who typed in non-existent or mistyped domain names using the .com and .net domains to a Verisign page called SiteFinder. This new service suggests alternative domain names with similar spellings, as well as showing a series of paid listings.
According to ICANN's official statement, SiteFinder has "had a substantial adverse effect on the core operation of the DNS, on the stability of the Internet, and on the relevant domains, and may have additional adverse effects in the future. These effects appear to be significant, including effects on web browsing, certain email services and applications, sequenced lookup services and a pervasive problem of incompatibility with other established protocols."
