Site Finder and Internet Governance

On September 15, 2003, VeriSign, Inc., the company that operates the databases that allow Internet users to reach any Internet resource ending in .com or .net, introduced a new service it called Site Finder. Less than three weeks later, after widespread protest from the technical community, at least three lawsuits, and a stern demand from ICANN (the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, which has undertaken responsibility for managing the Internet domain name space), VeriSign agreed to shut Site Finder down. In between those dates, the Internet community saw a passionate debate over the roles of ICANN, VeriSign, and the Internet's technical aristocracy in managing the domain name space. In this paper, I unpack the Site Finder story. Site Finder was highly undesirable from a technical standpoint; it contravened key elements of Internet architecture. ICANN had power to force VeriSign to withdraw it, though, only if VeriSign was violating the terms of its registry contracts. The arguments that Site Finder violated VeriSign's contractual obligations are plausible, but they don't derive their force from Site Finder's architectural or stability consequences. The registry contracts gave ICANN no hook to invoke those concerns; if VeriSign was in breach, it was by happenstance. Part of the lesson of Site Finder is that there needs to be an effective institutional mechanism for protecting the domain name space infrastructure from unilateral, profit-driven change that bypasses the protections and consensus mechanisms of the traditional Internet standards process. Notwithstanding ICANN's flaws, it may be better suited than any other existing institution to protect against that threat. Yet ICANN regulation is itself highly problematic, and so any plan to expand its authority must be approached with care.*****[Résumé] Le 15 septembre 2003, VeriSign Inc., la société qui exploite les bases de données donnant aux internautes un accès à toutes les ressources Internet se terminant pas .com ou .net, a introduit un nouveau service, appelé Site Finder. Moins de trois semaines plus tard, après des protestations générales de la communauté technique, au moins trois poursuites judiciaires et un avertissement sévère de l’ICANN (la Société pour l'attribution des noms de domaine et numéros sur Internet qui veille à gérer l’espace par nom de domaine Internet), VeriSign a accepté de fermer Site Finder. Entre-temps, la communauté des internautes a assisté à un débat animé sur les r les de l’ICANN, de VeriSign et de l’aristocratie technique de l’Internet dans la gestion de