Google Buys VeriSign (not really)

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Google Buys VeriSign (not really)

	By Karl Auerbach Chief Technical Officer at InterWorking Labs
	July 10, 2007 Views: 20,213 Comments: 4

No that’s not really happening, Google is not buying VeriSign.

But given Google’s ravenous appetite for data, it might find VeriSign quite attractive.

VeriSign has both root domain name servers and servers for the .com and .net top level domains (TLDs).

VeriSign could data mine the queries coming into those servers and produce a very valuable real-time stream of what users on the net are doing. (VeriSign could sell that data not only to marketing analysts but also to certain governmental agencies who shall remain nameless.)

(For more information about what one could get from a root or TLD server see What Could You Do With Your Own Root Server?)

Google just bought Postini—and one would have to be fairly naive to believe that Google does not intend to dredge through all of that email passing through Postini.

So, perhaps we should not be surprised if my headline someday becomes true.

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By Karl Auerbach, Chief Technical Officer at InterWorking Labs

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Comments

Frank Schilling – Jul 10, 2007 8:01 PM

I think it probably will Karl. And you thought Double-Click had anti-trust issues.. Where navigation and search meet—> GoogleSign

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John Berryhill – Jul 13, 2007 3:33 AM

“Sell” data to government agencies?

Nawwww…. you think?

http://www.verisign.com/verisign-inc/corporate-overview/Board_of_Directors/page_DEV029893.html

William A. Roper, Jr.
Corporate Executive Vice President, SAIC

William A. Roper, Jr. has served as a director since November 2003. Since April 2000, he has served as Corporate Executive Vice President of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)

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Keynes – Jul 16, 2007 1:42 AM

Perhaps they’ll go with Googsign? After that Microsoft will play tit-for-tat, and buy up every remaining private infrastructure company. Realistically, I agree with Frank that the DOJ would halt such a deal ASAP, not to mention the reaction from civil libertarians.

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