Network Solutions Inc.’s web site suffered from an embarrassing bug Friday afternoon when the frequently used search form showed that virtually any domain name was available.
The problem was discovered Friday afternoon by Christian Griffith of Freebairn & Co. who told InternetNews.com he was able to claim any name he wanted at 3 pm. EST. Repeated tests by InternetNews.com found every domain name was available, including some high-profile names such as amazon.com, aol.com and networksolutions.com. (The screen shot below was captured from a live Web browser at approximately 5:30 pm EST.) Attempts to register the names were not successful.
It is unclear how the error occurred. Network Solutions (NSOL) spokesperson, Brian O’Shaughnessy said “no domain names that had been previously registered were allowed to be “claimed” by anyone.”
By 6 pm, Network Solutions had apparently disabled the name search function; all searches for available names were reporting errors. Other registrars such as register.com did not appear to be affected by the glitch.
Earlier today, ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) reported that it had decided its first domain dispute case. ICANN decided that the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was entitled to control the name “www.worldwrestlingfederation.com” which had been registered by an individual who had no affiliation with the WWF.
