WE CAN TAKE DOWN THE NETWORK

``They want to provide the critical pieces that make the Internet work,'' said Todd Weller, an Internet infrastructure analyst at Legg Mason. ``And as long as people use the Internet they will benefit.''

Critics suggest VeriSign built its business with help of favorable treatment from the U.S. government, having not only negotiated an extension of most parts of the registry monopoly for several more years this past May, but also persuading the U.S. Department of Commerce to reverse a 1999 department order that would have meant selling off the registrar business.

``They are really smart and really well-lawyered,'' said Michael Froomkin, a University of Miami law professor and critic of the regulatory decisions. The result, he said, ``causes higher prices for consumers and less consumer choice.''

``Their game plan is to get into telephone in a big way,'' said David Fraley, principal analyst with Gartner Dataquest. ``Phone service is going to the Internet and someday they would like to be selling you your telephone service.''

``A power company only delivers electricity, a telephone company only delivers dial tone. We deliver identity, authentication, payments, and now voice,'' VeriSign's Stratton Sclavos said in an interview last week, the voice comment referring to VeriSign's venture into ENUM.

In search of a dramatic description of VeriSign's ubiquitous role in Internet functions, Sclavos declared in the interview, ``We can take down the network.''

Not very reassuring, except perhaps for owners of VeriSign stock. Read the complete article here. Use your Back button to return to ICB.

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