Industry News

VeriSign's ‘Wildcard' Scheme

On September 15, VeriSign, which operates the .com and .net domain name registries, began cashing in on user typos with its Site Finder service--a move that wreaked havoc on many email utilities and anti-spam filters, as well as possibly violating Internet Engineering Task Force standards and VeriSign's own contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Amid a storm of protest and after repeated requests from ICANN, VeriSign announced on October 3 that it would temporarily shut down Site Finder, but it's determined to relaunch the service.

References:

1. VeriSign Wildcard Opinion Survey:
http://sa.vix.com/~vixie/comnetsurv/

2. ICANN advisories and other background materials concerning VeriSign's wildcard service:
http://www.icann.org/topics/wildcard-history.html

3. "Technical Responses to Unilateral Internet Authority…"
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/tlds/sitefinder/

Microsoft Security Suit Raises Legal Issues

Microsoft is fighting a class action lawsuit in California arising from its software's notable vulnerability to viruses and worms. The suit charges the company with unfair competition and violation of customers' privacy rights through security defects in its products. To learn more, see "Microsoft security suit raises thorny questions," CNET News.com October 3, 2003
http://news.com.com/2100-7348-5086385.html

Settlement in Class Action Suit Against Manufacturer of Defective Hard Drives

In late October, the Superior Court of California announced a proposed settlement in the class action suit against Fujitsu Computer Products of America. If you bought certain models of Fujitsu brand Desktop 3.5-inch IDE hard drives or a personal computer or other system containing these drives, you could benefit from the settlement. For more information, see
http://www.hddclassactionsettlement.com/notice.pdf

Microsoft Makes Deal to Integrate Windows with PC Hardware

Last fall, in a move that presages integrating digital rights management (DRM) technology at the operating system and hardware level, Microsoft expanded its relationship with BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies:
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5086853.html

Symantec Wins Suit against Counterfeiter

In late December, Maryland Internet Marketing was ordered to pay Symantec $3 million for selling counterfeit Symantec software:
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2003/12/22/daily4.html