[gtld-tech] URS concerns

Fri Feb 14 05:21:49 UTC 2014

After the discussions we had on this list last year regarding URS procedures, I was curious to see what had been communicated to the URS provider and how they would implement their procedures. After looking at the implementation of the process (only from the outside so far), there appears to be a significant skills and awareness gap on the part of  the URS provider.

1. Firstly, can someone please explain why they are providing IP addresses instead of nameservers? We _are_ in the domain name industry. It is also part of the technical procedures and just plain makes sense.

2. The zone configuration used by the URS provider appears to be a touch sloppy:

dig ns facebok.pw @207.250.29.220 +norec
;; flags: qr aa; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;facebok.pw.                    IN      NS
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
.                       86400   IN      SOA     ns.yourhost.com. hostmaster.yourhost.com. 2008032701 28800 7200 604800 86400

It doesn't appear that the hosting provider "yourhost.com" has anything to do with this service. A quick google for "yourhost.com" does return a hit from "Starting and Building an Online Business for Dummies". I'd recommend a more appropriate configuration be used. 

3. I'd also suggest that the DNS server should not just wildcard all domain responses:

dig @207.250.29.220 a icann.org +norec
;; flags: qr aa; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 2
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;icann.org.                     IN      A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
icann.org.              86400   IN      A       207.250.29.220
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
.                       86400   IN      NS      ns.
;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns.                     86400   IN      A       207.250.29.220

4. The DNS version appears to be creatively named:
dig chaos txt version.bind  @207.250.29.220 +short
"get lost"

5. The website (and webserver), despite supporting ASP, appears to not do any programmatic evaluation of incoming requests:
curl -H 'Host: icann.org' http://207.250.29.220/
<html>
<head>
    <title>Suspended Site</title>
</head>
<body>
<div style="text-align:center; background-color:#005FAD; color:white; font-size:40px;">
    <p></p>This Site is Suspended
</div>
<br style="color:white;" />
<div style="background-color:#9AB3E5; font-size:30px;">
 The Domain Name you've entered is not available. It has been taken down as a result of dispute resolution proceedings pursuant to the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) Procedure and Rules.
</div>
<br style="color:white;" />
<div style="background-color:#D7E1F4; font-size:25px;">
    For more information relating to the URS, please visit: <a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/urs">http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/urs</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Kal Feher