BOSTON -- BOSTON (09/04/2002) - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) threatened to strip VeriSign Inc. of its ability to sell ".com" domain names Tuesday if the registrar does not clean up inaccuracies in the public database that records who owns which Web sites.

   ADVERTISEMENT
  

Free IT resource

TechNet: More ways to know it, share it, and keep it running.

Sponsored by Microsoft

Free IT resource

Attend the SOA Executive Forum: Breaking SOA Bottlenecks SOAExecForum.com/may2007

Sponsored by InfoWorld

RELATED LINKS
»  IT trainer offers master's degree for hackers
»  MSNBC buys participatory news site Newsvine
»  Merchants: eBay ad programs drive buyers away
»  Web services RSS feed 

IDG ENTERPRISE NETWORK
• Web Services Caution Abounds  (CIO)

TOP NEWS 


IT SOLUTION SEARCH
ICANN, the nonprofit group that oversees matters relating to the Internet addressing system, gave VeriSign 15 working days to correct inaccuracies in the "Whois" database, saying that the leading registrar has "exhibited a pattern of persistent violations."

Although the regulatory body said that nearly all of the 150 accredited registrars complied with requests to correct inaccurate information in their Whois records, VeriSign repeatedly ignored ICANN's requests, forcing it to take more stringent measures.

ICANN flagged 17 specific inaccuracies in the database, and said that it would give notice of the termination of VeriSign's domain accreditation agreement if the corrections weren't made within the deadline of 15 working days. VeriSign may then chose to initiate arbitration against the action, ICANN said.

VeriSign Spokesman Brian O'Shaughnessy said Wednesday that the company "absolutely" plans to comply with the order, but added that "holding 17 examples out of an active database of 10.3 million domain names is not a pattern and shouldn't be characterized as one."

The Whois database is used to record information on who owns which Web sites, providing the relevant contact details, as well as allowing the public to verify whether a domain name is available or not. Saying that the database is an important consumer tool, ICANN said that it will take the necessary measures to ensure its accuracy.