VeriSign drops domain seizure request

VeriSign has withdrawn its controversial request to be granted the power to take down offending websites without a court order.

The proposal to internet regulator ICANN lodged this month argued VeriSign’s new anti-abuse policy would help it comply with “court orders, laws, government rules, requests of law enforcement or other governmental or quasi-governmental agency, or any dispute resolution process.”

VeriSign withdrew the request last week, according to ICANN’s register of new applications for New Registry Services.

The top level domain registrar has not given an explanation for the withdrawal.

The company had gone through several months worth of preparation to get its submission in order, including working with the FBI to formulate the proposal and taking law enforcement, government Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and domain registrars in the US through a pilot of the expedited suspension procedures.

The groundwork in the US was to form a template for its global rollout of the proposal.

ICANN has rejected just one propsal since 2001, however VeriSign has withdrawn several in recent years.

Prior withdrawals related to an exchange service for registrars to trade decommissioned domains.