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Sunday, June 08, 2003
Whois? You Mean Who-was!
You'd have to be living under a rock these days to have never encountered a site that utilizes "submission codes." This the technology increasingly utilized by companies with high-traffic data access points to prevent automated scripts from continuously querying the database to extract data, often for nefarious purposes.
Network Solutions' "WHOIS" tool, which allows you to retrieve information about a domain name's owner, is the latest to adopt this method. While this is a great way to prevent the bad guys from getting the goods, it's an irritant to honest users. The problem, of course, is that it's almost impossible to tell the two apart.
One of the first examples of submission codes I can remember is the "submit URL" feature on AltaVista (of course, it would take up to 6 months to actually index your site, but that's another story). Then, the most extensive rollout of submission code was initiated by Overture to prevent scripts from automatically logging in to Overture's pay-per-click search ad accounts and adjusting bids based on certain criteria.
I'm sure WHOIS won't be the last tool to get this treatment. It would be nice, however, if there was a viable alternative to this annoying extra step that would allow trustworthy users to skip the step. As Internet security becomes more of a concern for everyone, I'm hoping a better solution can be found.
Posted by
Cory Kleinschmidt
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