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I had to turn off comments on my blog because all I was getting was spam.

Check out this page by GoDaddy.com about VeriSign

My domain is registered with fake info, and my registrar has never done anything about it, even though they sell a service (DomainsByProxy) similar to what you mentioned. I don't think anyone really cares TOO much, and my registrar has thusfar been great about it (though I'm posting as AC here because I don't want them to catch on if they've just missed it ;^).

For those who fear stalkers, etc., there are services like Domains by Proxy (related to the registrar Go Daddy). These services will register the domain on your behalf; they require valid contact info from you, and they put their own contact info in the WHOIS database. This is technically in line with the ICANN rules because the proxy registrant is the real registrant of the domain. (Although they have a contractual obligation of doing it on your behalf.)

If you break the terms of service -- for example, if you use the domain for spam support or to commit illegal activities -- the proxy registrant will expose your real identity. Otherwise, your privacy is pretty well protected with these services.

I've used those types of services (including Domains by Proxy) to register domains on behalf of minor children who shouldn't have their contact info exposed online, and for other purposes requiring some level of privacy. For my own domains, I'm not afraid to use my valid PO box address and phone number.

(Note: I am not affiliated with these services in any way, except as a customer.)

Don't fake your info, just get a private registration:

https://registrar.godaddy.com/dbp.asp?isc=&se=%2B& from%5Fapp=&prog%5Fid=GoDaddy&authGuid=

It only costs 2-3$ a year more than a normal domain, and the domain is registered in the registrar's name so your info isn't public.

These were the questions I asked. I intended to setup a website for Australian mobile phone users - since no such website really existed.

We spent several weeks researching hosts and experimenting with content management systems. This is what we ended up with:

Hosting - Shared hosting at Hostony.net. For around US$8/month, we got 1000M of space and around 35G of bandwidth, as well as the services we needed - such as MySQL databases, SSH, FTP, etc.

Choosing hosting was difficult - as not everyone offered all the features we needed - common problems were limitations on SQL databases, small space quotas, as well as setup fees when only on short term bill (we wanted preferably monthly payments so we could pull out whenever we needed if necessary. In the end we settled on 3 monthly payments).

Unfortunately the hosting service was unreliable - with many server reboots, timeouts, and complete outages. After complaining we were moved to a better server, which has delivered better performance (but still not up to scratch).

Content Management - we chose Postnuke and PhpBB (via the PNphpBB2 module) for Postnuke. Postnuke tended to offer the facilities we needed - although did have problems with things such as forum avatars and login sessions.

Domain name - this was easy - US domain name .COM only cost $7.95/year (with GoDaddy), or $16.95/year if using registering via proxy (to avoid having to include home address, etc).

The result : http://www.ausmobile.com

My advice? Don't spend up big, as the project may fail, and you will lose money.

They are a division of dotster

That's not true at all. Go Daddy is owned by the company's founder, and has no relation to Dotster, except as a competitor.

You have godaddy.com which is alot cheaper. Others maybe cheaper...

With godaddy, you can subscribe for a few years, I know at least 6 years in advance. I can't remember if it's more.

With the money you tie up, you can invest, use the investment earnings to pay for more years or hosting. Or even better yet, free beer for your friends. :)

I'm not affiliated with godaddy, they're just my domain name registrar.

It's on his webpage. If he didn't want people to have it, he wouldn't put it there I bet. It's not like it's his personal home/cell number.

I must say that I'm very surprised by this response. I've had an extraordinarily positive experience with them, particularly BECAUSE of their anti-spam policy. They are very serious about complaints, but when I filed one, were definitely very careful about not arbitrarily shutting the spammer down just because *I said* they were a spammer. They contacted the spammer first, went back and forth with them and myself for a few days, and then shut them down when they would not stop.

Based on my experience from the other side of the equation, you should have been contacted first. I'm surprised that you weren't. I would suggest contacting the President, Bob Parsons' office. When I called, I was told that he kept his number fairly easy to access because he prefers to be more hands-on and accessible to customers. I'm sure that he doesn't take the calls personally (I got voicemail when I called), but was told later that the issue had been referred by him personally to the abuse dept manager, who called me back.

The " Office of The President" number is (480) 505-8828, and the e-mail address is president@godaddy.com. Give 'em a call, and a chance. Everyone has given some variation of "you get what you pay for", but this customer has gotten far more than that in the past.

Did you read this?

Why guess when you can RTFA? Oh, right...

one of my domain names [...] was disabled by my unnamed registrar

Notice that "unnamed registrar" links to godaddy.com? I think the submiter was trying to be subtle.

Why guess when you can RTFA? Oh, right...

one of my domain names [...] was disabled by my unnamed registrar

Notice that "unnamed registrar" links to godaddy.com? I think the submiter was trying to be subtle.

According to Whois information (CAPTCHA required), yahooslurp.com is owned by a flower store site. How long until Yahoo figures this out and hammers the store into the ground?

They can hold us over a barrell and all we can do is sue them. We've seen how long lawsuits take. A week of we're-screwed-time is too long.

While it would take forever to get every incompetant sysadmin to change root DNS servers, the bulk of us could be changed over in days.

We just need

A. someone to do it (set up new root servers and maintain them)

B. a massive insult and pain in the ass like the reinstitution of site-finder to prod sysadmins into changing over to them.

Versign would still own creating domains, but a clone could be actually serving the info. Talk about embarassing for Verisign. They'd sue immediately and the civilians would learn about this quickly.

When it all comes down to it, such a new root server provider could say, "I'm takin' my ball and..." creating new top levels? censoring sites via domain expiration? splitting the list off entirely, creating an Internet-prime? Telling ICANN to shove it? "We are, after all, just an edge service which people use by choice. PETA.com stays People Eating Tastey Animals on our servers. Screw you."

And if the community didn't like it, someone else could do it all AGAIN. When you set up an Internet connection, you'd say, which one do I want to be on? (Logically, not physically, of course.)

It would be both horrifying and interesting. And after some chaos, order would be restored in the form of a ROOT server authority with the oversite of a smarter overseer (one hopes).

I would hope that a public entity would do it, someone who is interested in the Internet being open, but a private entity would do, too. Hey, GoDaddy, do you hear oportunity knocking?

Of all the domains I have (over 2 dozen in all), I have only 3 domains with valid WHOIS information. It's not MY information but the information of the proxy company that GoDaddy uses. Other than that ALL of my domains use false WHOIS information. I guess I'm a criminal after all.

GoDaddy.com offers a service to hide the registrant's details so that it doesn't show up in the whois listing.

At least they'll have to wait for the domain name litigiousbastards.com to expire to grab it.... And I rather like this domain name. Perhaps I'll keep it after this fiaSCO ends.

Step 1
Register your own domain name. Cheapest reliable registrar I'm aware of is Godaddy, at about eight bucks a year per domain for .com, .net and .org TLDs, more/less for others. (Five bucks a year for ".us", for example.) Having trouble picking one? Use your own name, or add "bork" to the end or something. It really isn't that big a deal.

Step 2
Permanently disable the following addresses: info@, support@, webmaster@, ceo@, sales@, president@, admin@, contact@, customerservice@, and tech@.

Step 3
Can you figure it out by my e-mail address? If not, shoot me one, I'll I'll clue you in, if you can demonstrate that you're not a spammer. ;-) Here's a hint: You'll your host to support this mail feature.

Step 4
Don't post your address, genius! If you slap your e-mail address on a website, in a mailing list, etc... you're gonna get spam. That's the way it is. Stop whining about it, and figure out a solution. (See step three.) If you haven't figured out step three yet, e-mail me.

Step 5
Pay attention. Think about who you give your address to. This goes for the address you use for your domain registration. Oh, and register your domain with an address that you don't care about getting spam at. A month or two later, change it. Spammers pay more attention to the e-mail address a domain is registered with than they do the address(es) that it ends up with later.

I own about twenty domain names, and use multiple addresses for each domain name. I get a combined total of about 3-10 spams per day, tops... and those are only to the addresses I was using before I developed these rules. The benefits? Little to no spam, you can track every company that's sold or shared your information, and easily see who violated their privacy policy. Then, of course, you just shut down the spam that they've enabled, and go on as usual.

It works.

Guess who owns the realnetworkssucks.com domain reg? The White House IT staff's favorite site, and porn peddler, whitehouse.com (yes, note the .com) (discriminatory CAPTCHA required). Guess I can't reg it. realnetworkssucks.com links to the sucks500.com site...

Since so many people sue IBM, I wonder why nobody bothered to take the ibmlawsuit.com domain up to now? As you can see here, I regged it just recently. (Annoying CAPTCHA response required) Oh well, at least it's going to a good cause ;-). I just hope IBM doesn't get unhappy about me owning the domain name....

Let's make sure they know where I live:

The GoDaddy registration information for scolawsuit.com. (Annoying CAPTCHA response required)

;-)

Looks like I have a few more reasons to stay up past my bedtime..." Or get a tivo.

*upper lip trembling* you mean there are poor souls out there that actually lack this essential technology? ;P

Seriously, if it weren't for Tivo I'd never catch my fix of Twilight Zone reruns and Enterprise. I do Tivo Anime Crash on TechTV, but some of the Anime they show is a little esoteric for my tastes. So, a lot of that gets deleted before I have a chance to watch it.

My friend Mike got slashdotted recently pointing out that Time Warner cable is rolling out Tivo to their users for something on the order of less than $10 a month...and at no cost to the subscriber for the box!Pretty sweet deal considering that I paid slightly over $400 for the Sony DirctTV/Tivo combo box. That particular combination is a pretty sweet deal. I guess I could regret having shelled out that much money in light of Mike's cable deal. But...naaahhh. How can you regret shelling out for such a life-affirming technology?

I just checked with my registrar and it looks like tivoaid.com is still open. I think I may buy that domain to start a worthy cause....

I am somewhat concerned about privacy with my own web site, but here are a few things you can do to help:

1. Don't post personal information/your address.
2. Use a script (if you can) for e-mail instead of posting your e-mail address. Then you can choose who has your address and who doesn't. example
3. Use WHOIS protection services like those offered by RegisterFly and Go Daddy. RegisterFly only charges $2.50/year for this protection.

I have my important domains at directnic.com which provides amazing 24/7 trouble-ticket based support. I don't even think the somewhat less tech savvy the, yet ultra cheap godaddy.com would try this.

I don't think I've seen anyone post this yet or not, but ICANN maintains a list of all accredited registars. You may be surprised how many there are. It also lists which TLDs each one can register for you.

Naturally, some are probably much better than others. I'd recommend godaddy.com, gandi.net, or joker.com.

Additionally, if do not want your contact information to be public, you can use DomainsByProxy.com. You register through a registrar that's one of DBP's affiliates and pay an extra $15/year or so and they act as a proxy for the domain contact. They list their postal and email addresses for your domain, and forward you anything that is sent, optionally filtering for spam. You still own the domain name, and the default if anything comes up (i.e. they suspect you of spamming or something) is that the registration information reverts to your own true contact information... So it's kind of "fail-safe" in that respect.

Yes, but in this case they're only getting $6/year, as opposed to $35 or $50 or whatever they're charging currently. If everyone used an alternative registrar (e.g. godaddy.com) then Verislime would -definitely- feel the hurt on the bottom line, where it counts.

Isn't that great? I hope were being sarcastic ..

because other companies such as directnic.com and godaddy have been providing full-service domain registrations for $15 or less per year for many *YEARS* now.

Forget that, transfer to GoDaddy.com for $7.75 and you get a one year extension. I've had no problem with them at all and have been only paying $9/year for my domains.

The email that Go Daddy sent its customers can be found here and their complaint against Verisign can be found here.

It's also my interpretation that their * actions are in violation of other U.S. laws. I'm not alone on that interpretation, as GoDaddy and Netster are taking action to sue.

They filed suit against Verisign accusing Verisign of misuse of their registry position with their Site Finder service.
Link to the press release is here

Verisign as deep pockets. You think they'll act " swiftly " in this case ? Spam fighters have been arguing with ICANN; point out false domain contact info to them for years and they've yet act "swiftly" on those. Think that a powerhouse like Verisign will listen to ICANN? They never have in all the years that VS has been in business. ICANN is a joke when it comes to big-time registrars.
Best way to nip this in the bud? GET every damn verisign customer to quit them and sign up with registrars who are better ( ie. Godaddy )

You could always use GoDaddy for domain registrations, which gives you the option of keeping registration info private. Not to mention their prices are a hell of a lot better than going through Verisign.

Yeah but with the current system you're breaking the T&Cs which means if a dispute or hijacking of your domain were to arise, you may well lose the case.

Just something to be aware of, people have lost their domains under similar circumstances.

To keep everything nice and bonified, there's always the 'privacy' domain registrations that companys such as GoDaddy offer (basically a proxy registration).

There are more and more cheap ones popping up.

I've been using GoDaddy.com very happily for the past few years. They were the first to go really cheap (sub $10/year), I think. And they provide every service I've ever wanted, administration (updating name servers, etc.) is simple, parking is free, etc.. I don't know about customer service since I've never needed any.

There are more now. I just ran across another the other day... secureserver.net.

In addition, those who provide false information when registering a domain name could also be charged with a federal offense.

At this point in time I feel obligated to remind slashdot that Ashcroft did loose to a dead guy. Once again I guess it's all Missouri's fault.

Go Daddy is a registrar. It's not owned by them. You need to query Go Daddy's whois server to see the real owner, which you can do here or by using a recent version of the command line whois tool..

Go Daddy is the registrar, not the owner.

Try here to find the owner.

It should be noted that GoDaddy is simply the REGISTRAR, not the owner. GoDaddy is a fantastic place to register your domain names. It's cheap, and the service is good-- easy to manipulate your stuff, and it's the lowest-price no-gimmicks registrar I've found.

Here is the registration info.

Registrant:
None
400 N University Ave.
Apt. 505
Little Rock, Arkansas 72205
United States
Registered through: Go Daddy Software http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: MSNBOT.COM
Created on: 12-Apr-02
Expires on: 12-Apr-04

You can find the rest of the guy's personal details on the linked website.

...in the pocketbook. Move alll domain registrations away from Network Solutions and Verisign. godaddy.com works for us.

Network Solutions is amazingly incompetent and assholish. I've been meaning to do this for months, finally just did.

would this cover checking ePhil.com and then ePhil.net? Does GoDaddy violate this patent? They offer other domains with the same 2ld and a different 1ld to buyers.

GoDaddy's Domain Registration policy (at http://registrar.godaddy.com/regAgreement.asp) does not require a physical address. Just a valid "Postal" address (See par. 3).

Oops, I was wrong. A whois at their registrar brought up the results:

Registrant:
mark felstein
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
Registered through: Go Daddy Software (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: EMARKETERSAMERICA.ORG
Created on: 16-Jan-03
Expires on: 16-Jan-05
Last Updated on: 16-Jan-03
Administrative Contact:
felstein, mark mefels@aol.com
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
9542887575
Technical Contact:
felstein, mark mefels@aol.com
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
9542887575
Domain servers in listed order:
PARK3.SECURESERVER.NET
PARK4.SECURESERVER.NET

godaddy sells "used domain names" here. I thought it was a joke. Lots of interesting choices, and they seem to include the balance of the previous term (like transferring the manufacturer's warranty on a used car).

godaddy.com is among the best.

I manage servers and build software for several companies in the pr0n industry; it seems like most of these guys like registering with www.godaddy.com. I use them all the time with excellent results. I've registered four of my own domains with them so far; some of my friends followed me there. In total I'm managing about 120 domains with no hassles. Go Daddy's domain transfer rate is ~$7.00 and registration for a new domain is about ~$9.00/year. I have nothing but good things to say about them.

The only problems we had so far were in transferring domains from Verisign/NetSol over to Go Daddy. NetSol makes it almost impossible to happen; it takes two or three iterations before they comply.

Cheers and good luck,

The price NetSol charges, like with anything else, is outrageous, but that's not the worst of it. When I tried to have the domain transferred to Go Daddy (much, much cheaper), I found that I can't! In fact, what I believe happens is that once you apply for your .NAME domain (i.e., john.smith.name), NetSol takes ownership of "smith.name", and you're given the right to use the "john" subdomain -- it can't be transferred! (or, at least, they're not allowing it)

NetSol also makes you purchase email hosting with the domain, and tries to tack on some web hosting. Simply put, DO NOT go through NetSol for this service. (I can hear the collective, "Well DUH!" now)

This is why I'm letting my .NAME domain dry up and die, and will continue to handle my email the way I always have. There's no way in hell I'm paying NetSol's outrageous prices until I'm able to transfer to some other registry.

What did all those domains have in common? They all had IRC servers on EfNet. Now I keep all my domains with GoDaddy, great service and they have clueful people answer the phone, even late at night on weekends.

-Joe