What Are The Consequences?

Sounds like a good idea, right?

Yes. For Verisign and almost nobody else.

There are a number of negative consequences, however, for how the Internet works. Quickly, and in no particular order:

• An increase in the amount of spam you receive. This might seem like a strange consequence. However, many spam filtering programs use, as one of their criterias, checking whether or not the domain name that email appears to come from actually exists or not in the DNS database. Most spam mail is forged to look as if it comes from a nonexistent domain. Now, because of SiteFinder, as far as the DNS database is concerned ALL domain names exist; the unregistered ones just point to SiteFinder. Because of this, some spam filters will fail and allow mail through that comes from a domain that doesn't really exist.
• Unfair competition. Because of this, companies that register their domain names with Verisign may end up with a competitive advantage against companies that use competing registrars. If a client misspells your domain name, he will be redirected to SiteFinder. The basic purpose of SiteFinder is eventually to sell placement on this page. It seems likely that the first such placements will be for Verisign-registered domains. This has the potential to redirect your clients directly to your competitors should they make a mistake spelling your domain name.
• Lock-in. According to the Terms of Service for SiteFinder, your only recourse should you find their service unacceptable is to discontinue using it. However, as you will be directed there automatically should you mistype a domain name, there is no reliable way to stop using this service. (Actually, there is; I'll cover it later when we talk about what can be done to avoid these problems. However, the solution is certainly not something Verisign wants you to do.)
• Unintended bandwidth charges. In countries where bandwidth is cheap, and Internet connections are fast and have no traffic limits, SiteFinder has little impact in this area. But most of the world has metered connections. Previously, if you typed in a domain that didn't exist, your computer would search for that address, not find it, and display an error page that was loaded locally from your own computer. You would only pay your Internet provider for the time you used to look for the page (if you are billed by the hour or minute) or for the relatively tiny packets of information your computer sent out in order to query the DNS database for the site you were looking for. Now, however, that incorrect domain name is going to force your computer to load the SiteFinder page. You are going to be charges for the time and/or traffic it takes to load that page, even though it is most likely not the page you were trying to load. Think of it as if you tried to call a nonexistent telephone number, got a recording saying the number did not exist, but then getting a list of other numbers you might want to call, and then being charged for the time you took listening to the recording. Obnoxious, isn't it?
• SiteFinder is ethnocentric. Currently at least, even users who are browsing sites in a language other than English misspell the name, they will be brought to the SiteFinder page-- which currently is only in English. Prior to that, mistyping a domain name would have produced an error message from the user's computer that would be presented in their local language. While it is certainly conceivable that Verisign might produce localized versions, it seems likely they would do so for all potential languages-- and in any case, this now places control of one of a computer's key functions-- letting you know you've done someting wrong-- and taken it away from you and given it to a commercial company that has its best interests at heart, not yours.