8 Jan
2004
8 Jan
'04
10:14 a.m.
I'm a little steamed. I just received an email from Network Solutions
offering me a valuable new service: protection of my domain registration
information from spammers. For the cost of just $5, my WHOIS contact
information will be hidden so it can't be scraped by spammers and doesn't
appear in the lists and exports they routinely create from the whois
databases.
A couple things about this really piss me off. First, NSI doesn't say
explicitly, but it obvious during "checkout" on their site, that the cost is
$5.00 PER DOMAIN. If you are, for example, like me, a designated technical
contact for hundreds of domains that my customers register (often without my
knowledge, even), then the annual cost of preserving my privacy is
staggering.
Second, NSI claims on the "product" information for this "service"
that
"ICANN requires this personal information to be available for anybody to
view on the web." If that is the case, then how is even possible for them
to charge me to not make my personal information public.
This "service" seems like a gross abuse of the collected data and a complete
breach of any ethics with respect to the handling of personal information
associated with a domain registration.
Am I being unreasonable about this?
Patrick
8 Jan
8 Jan
10:24 a.m.
New subject: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
Am I being unreasonable about this?
Sounds to me like they're sending you the exact thing they're trying to get
you to pay to be protected from.
Personally, I would never recommend registering a domain through NSI. Nor
would I ever do any other business with them or their subsidiaries.
10:35 a.m.
Dude,
I'm a little steamed. I just received an email
from Network Solutions
offering me a valuable new service: protection of my domain registration
information from spammers. For the cost of just $5, my WHOIS contact
information will be hidden so it can't be scraped by spammers and doesn't
appear in the lists and exports they routinely create from the whois
databases.
I own, or manage, about 6,000 domains. Yes, I got the same message
you did, from several domain registrars. I ignore it.
A couple things about this really piss me off. First,
NSI doesn't say
explicitly, but it obvious during "checkout" on their site, that the cost is
$5.00 PER DOMAIN.
Yes.
Second, NSI claims on the "product"
information for this "service" that
"ICANN requires this personal information to be available for anybody to
view on the web." If that is the case, then how is even possible for them
to charge me to not make my personal information public.
ICANN does not make that
claim. The whole idea of the contacts
is, however, so people can inquire about domain issues, so not
having a (public) address listed for a domain is silly. Making
the addresses private is something ICANN will probably try to
block from happening.
This "service" seems like a gross abuse of
the collected data and a complete
breach of any ethics with respect to the handling of personal information
associated with a domain registration.
Am I being unreasonable about this?
A bit. NSI isn't known for their friendly
service, or even correct
service. They *should* (and, did, I believe) protect the whois
info enough for *mass* harvesting systems to fail; I believe they
added the "type in the code you see above" stuff a while ago.
But, yeah, the service is bogus. Send a formal complaint to NSI,
stating just this, and copy it to ICANN.
--f
--
Fred N. van Kempen, DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) Collector/Archivist
Visit the VAXlab Project at http://VAXlab.pdp11.nl/
Visit the Archives at http://www.pdp11.nl/
Email: waltje(a)pdp11.nl BUSSUM, THE NETHERLANDS / Mountain View, CA, USA
10:54 a.m.
New subject: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Patrick Rigney
Sent: 08 January 2004 21:15
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: OT: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
I'm a little steamed. I just received an email from Network Solutions
offering me a valuable new service: protection of my domain registration
information from spammers. For the cost of just $5, my WHOIS contact
information will be hidden so it can't be scraped by spammers and doesn't
appear in the lists and exports they routinely create from the whois
databases.
That's bollocks, or at least it is here in the UK. Here's the info from my
own domain registry:
"The UK registry, Nominet, allows you to request that your personal contact
details remain private and are not revealed on the whois server. If you wish
to keep you contact details private, please select 'private' from the drop
down list below, else select 'public'."
No fee involved and that's per user, ie me, so I don't have to tell Nominet
to keep my details private for every domain I own. Unless things are
completely different in the US that smacks of extortion.
Second, NSI claims on the "product"
information for this "service" that
"ICANN requires this personal information to be available for anybody to
view on the web." If that is the case, then how is even possible for them
to charge me to not make my personal information public.
Nope. That's kaka. It's up to the domain owner whether they're public or
not, at least over here anyway.
Am I being unreasonable about this?
Sounds like Verisign type behaviour to me......take advantage of lesser
skilled people's knowledge to get money from them for something that should
be free.
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
1:29 p.m.
New subject: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
> Second, NSI claims on the "product"
information for this "service"
> that "ICANN requires this personal information to be available for
> anybody to view on the web."
Nope. That's kaka. It's up to the domain owner
whether they're public
or not, at least over here anyway.
I'm sorry to have to inject some actual facts into such a lovely
acrimonious discussion, but....
Extracted from the ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement:
F. Public Access to Data on SLD Registrations. During the term of this
Agreement:
1. At its expense, Registrar shall provide an interactive web page
and a port 43 Whois service providing free public query-based
access to up-to-date (i.e. updated at least daily) data concerning
all active SLD registrations sponsored by Registrar in the registry
for the .com, .net, and .org TLDs. The data accessible shall
consist of elements that are designated from time to time according
to an ICANN-adopted policy. Until ICANN otherwise specifies by
means of an ICANN-adopted policy, this data shall consist of the
following elements as contained in Registrar's database:
[...]
g. The name and postal address of the SLD holder;
h. The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone
number, and (where available) fax number of the technical contact
for the SLD; and
i. The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone
number, and (where available) fax number of the administrative
contact for the SLD.
I have been unable to find any ICANN policies that modify any of these.
Of course the tech and/or admin contacts may be the registrar itself,
or any other organization for that matter, proxying for the domain
holder. But II.F.1.g is quite clear.
If this contravenes the law in some jurisdiction, well, it's too bad,
but any such jurisdiction will have to stay out of the .com/.net/.org
domain space until they fix their laws.
(No, I'm not stupid enough to think that will actually happen, though
it's what should. What will actually happen is that they will ignore
the ICANN requirement, ICANN will (eventually) get upset, there will be
a big squabble, and something - I don't know what - will settle down
out of the resulting dust cloud.)
/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
2:09 p.m.
New subject: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
Well, then I suggest people move to Tucows, I've been registering url's
with them lately and the whois info doesn't seem to appear publicly...
But this is just like the phone book, you actually have to pay NOT to
have your name listed... its blackmail to have privacy!!!
Curt
der Mouse wrote:
--
Curt Vendel & Karl Morris
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Atari Museum
http://www.atarimuseum.com
The Atari Explorer
http://www.atari-explorer.com
>Second, NSI
claims on the "product" information for this "service"
>that "ICANN requires this personal information to be available for
>anybody to view on the web."
>
>
Nope. That's kaka. It's up to the domain
owner whether they're public
or not, at least over here anyway.
I'm sorry to have to inject some actual facts into such a lovely
acrimonious discussion, but....
Extracted from the ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement:
F. Public Access to Data on SLD Registrations. During the term of this
Agreement:
1. At its expense, Registrar shall provide an interactive web page
and a port 43 Whois service providing free public query-based
access to up-to-date (i.e. updated at least daily) data concerning
all active SLD registrations sponsored by Registrar in the registry
for the .com, .net, and .org TLDs. The data accessible shall
consist of elements that are designated from time to time according
to an ICANN-adopted policy. Until ICANN otherwise specifies by
means of an ICANN-adopted policy, this data shall consist of the
following elements as contained in Registrar's database:
[...]
g. The name and postal address of the SLD holder;
h. The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone
number, and (where available) fax number of the technical contact
for the SLD; and
i. The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone
number, and (where available) fax number of the administrative
contact for the SLD.
I have been unable to find any ICANN policies that modify any of these.
Of course the tech and/or admin contacts may be the registrar itself,
or any other organization for that matter, proxying for the domain
holder. But II.F.1.g is quite clear.
If this contravenes the law in some jurisdiction, well, it's too bad,
but any such jurisdiction will have to stay out of the .com/.net/.org
domain space until they fix their laws.
(No, I'm not stupid enough to think that will actually happen, though
it's what should. What will actually happen is that they will ignore
the ICANN requirement, ICANN will (eventually) get upset, there will be
a big squabble, and something - I don't know what - will settle down
out of the resulting dust cloud.)
/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
2:21 p.m.
New subject: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Curt Vendel
Sent: 09 January 2004 01:10
To: General(a)neptune.easily.co.uk;
Discussion@neptune.easily.co.uk:On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
Well, then I suggest people move to Tucows, I've been registering url's
with them lately and the whois info doesn't seem to appear publicly...
But this is just like the phone book, you actually have to pay NOT to
have your name listed... its blackmail to have privacy!!!
Move to the UK :)
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
2:46 p.m.
New subject: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
When you guys learn to make some real pizza, I'll think about it....
until then, New York USA Rules! ;-)
Curt
Witchy wrote:
--
Curt Vendel & Karl Morris
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Atari Museum
http://www.atarimuseum.com
The Atari Explorer
http://www.atari-explorer.com
-----Original
Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Curt Vendel
Sent: 09 January 2004 01:10
To: General(a)neptune.easily.co.uk;
Discussion@neptune.easily.co.uk:On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
Well, then I suggest people move to Tucows, I've been registering url's
with them lately and the whois info doesn't seem to appear publicly...
But this is just like the phone book, you actually have to pay NOT to
have your name listed... its blackmail to have privacy!!!
Move to the UK :)
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
3:04 p.m.
New subject: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
-----Original Message-----
From: Curt Vendel [mailto:curt@atarimuseum.com]
Sent: 09 January 2004 01:46
To: witchy(a)binarydinosaurs.co.uk; General(a)neptune.easily.co.uk;
Discussion@neptune.easily.co.uk:On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
When you guys learn to make some real pizza, I'll think about it....
until then, New York USA Rules! ;-)
Arf :) I think my Missus will agree with you on that one!
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
2:20 p.m.
New subject: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of der Mouse
Sent: 09 January 2004 00:30
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
I'm sorry to have to inject some actual facts into such a lovely
acrimonious discussion, but....
<fact snippage>
All I'm reporting on is how the UK's own Nominet (aka .co.uk domains) see
things.
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
2:28 p.m.
On Thu, 8 Jan 2004, Patrick Rigney wrote:
I'm a little steamed. I just received an email
from Network Solutions
offering me a valuable new service: protection of my domain registration
information from spammers. For the cost of just $5, my WHOIS contact
information will be hidden so it can't be scraped by spammers and doesn't
appear in the lists and exports they routinely create from the whois
databases.
This is akin to the "unlisted phone number" charge I brought up a couple
weeks back. Just as sleazy...
This "service" seems like a gross abuse of
the collected data and a complete
breach of any ethics with respect to the handling of personal information
associated with a domain registration.
Another reason why Network Solutions should not be allowed to continue to
register domain names. I don't know why anyone would spend $35 to
register a domain name these days (I can't believe they still charge
that).
Am I being unreasonable about this?
Not at all.
Suggested alternatives:
http://www.bulkregister.com
http://www.godaddy.com
BulkRegister is decent and charges $12/year as their base rate. Their
management tools are passable and they have a decent DNS service. GoDaddy
is $8.95/year and their currently running a sale on .com domains and
transfers. I've got all my domains currently registered with BulkRegister
but I'm strongly considering moving to GoDaddy because they are much
cheaper. Does anyone know of any problems with GoDaddy?
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
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10 comments
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participants (7)
-
bob_lafleur＠technologist.com -
curt＠atarimuseum.com -
mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA -
patrick＠evocative.com -
vcf＠siconic.com -
waltje＠pdp11.nl -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk