http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,12382,00.html - [Image] [Important News from Microsoft.] [Image] [Category The Net] FREE newsletter [Image] AlterNIC takes over InterNIC traffic [Image] By Courtney Macavinta Join now FREE! July 14, 1997, 12:15 p.m. PT MENU A rival domain name registry to the =46ront Door official Internet registrar, InterNIC, Latest Headlines The Net redirected users from display on Computing "www.internic.net" to its own site last desktop Intranets weekend in what is being called a The Net Business "protest." Netscape, Excite CNET Radio do foreign news Perspectives Netizens told CNET's NEWS.COM that they Spam slows Newsmakers ended up at AlterNIC, or WorldNet mail Rumor Mill "www.alternic.net," after typing in InterNIC's URL. AlterNIC was set up by Domain deletion NEWS OPTIONS the enhanced Domain Name Services to called forgery One Week View offer alternate top-level domains, such CNNSI.com enters Desktop News as ".ltd," ".sex," and ".med." online ring News Alerts Ireland closes Custom News "By redirecting the domain name Net speech summit Advanced 'www.internic.net,' we are protesting Search the recent InterNIC claim to ownership FTC addresses Push of '.com,' '.org,' and '.net,' which children's [Image] they were supposed to be running in the privacy [Novell] public trust," AlterNIC CFO Eugene Kashpureff stated on his site. Computing RESOURCES BeOS hits the Subscribe "Our apologies for any trouble this DNS stands Member [domain name system] protest has caused Next generation Services you...We think we exercised restraint of Mac clones Contact Us in the use of our latest DNS technology Intel to cut chip Help for this protest," the letter states. prices up to 50% "We terminated the protest CNET SERVICES configuration at 8 a.m. Monday, July IBM speeds up CNET.COM 14." workstations BUILDER.COM Intranets BROWSERS.COM The AlterNIC site also contained a link IBM, Gemplus team GAMECENTER.COM that allowed visitors to access the on smart cards SEARCH.COM actual InterNIC in the protest message. Oracle stocks DOWNLOAD.COM e-commerce SHAREWARE.COM InterNIC is the registrar of the most shelves ACTIVEX.COM valuable domain names, such as ".com." MEDIADOME It is administered in part by Network Business Solutions under agreement with the Microsoft to hire MARKETPLACE National Science Foundation, which ends 3,600 this year CNET Store in March of next year. During its Cyrix shrinks How to tenure, Network Solutions has collected losses, misses advertise approximately $78 million in mark registration fees. Iomega execs head for Software AG The protest is the latest move in the heated debate over who will control the Novell CFO denies Internet naming system, which has he is leaving turned into a lucrative business as The state of commercial entities fight to establish Apple's books brand awareness by using the most Western Digital coveted names. For example, the name profits jump "business.com" was bought recently from Teledesic seeks its registered owner for $150,000. capital from telcos Last month, the Commerce Department asked for public comment on the future of the domain name system. An ad hoc committee formed in part by the Internet Society also proposed a plan last year for replacing Network Solutions and reconfiguring how the names are handed out. Kashpureff said he is protesting Network Solutions' claim in its recent Securities and Exchange filing that it owned the property rights to ".com" and the other popular domains. "If they think they own the entire domain name space, I've got news for them. Over the weekend, I possessed their name," he told CNET's NEWS.COM. No one at Network Solutions could be immediately reached to comment on whether the company will look into legal ramifications for the rerouting of its traffic by AlterNIC. Kashpureff wouldn't say how he managed to abduct InterNIC's domain name but did say he did it to demonstrate the system's vulnerability. "I'm not releasing how I did it because it would take out the name service on the Net. The hack was a result of a years' worth of work under a project called 'DNS Storm.'" Moreover, there is no telling how many registrations InterNIC could have lost due to the antic. But some Netizens who were involuntarily transported to the alternate site didn't seem to mind. "They do have a good point in the fact that those domain names are supposed to be in the public trust. I don't agree with the InterNIC monopoly either," said Jason Brunette, a Webmaster for TCB Internet in Wisconsin, who was rerouted to AlterNIC this weekend when he tried to register a domain. related news stories =95Internic.com clarifies disclaimers July 11, 1997 =95Public urged to help domain mess June 30, 1997 =95White House plays domain referee June 11, 1997 =95Domain planners dismiss critics June 5, 1997 =95Domain name fetches record price June 4, 1997 =95Ad hoc group proposes new domains February 5, 1997 Back to Top Copyright =A9 1995-97 CNET, Inc. All rights reserved.