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Transferring Domains From NSI?
Dr.Doom asks: "So, the latest change to the service agreement by NSI is the last straw. I want to switch registrars, but I've heard some people say that NSI makes it very difficult to do so. My question is how can I do this with the least amount of trouble (and least amount of risk of losing my domains)?" There is some mention of the fact that NSI reserves the right to revoke a domain if it is to be transferred. Does anyone know how likely NSI is to do something like this? Is there any way to prevent it?
Just tell them that you're Dr. Doom, and that'll scare em good.
Domain Direct: (http://www.domaindirect.com/cgi-bin/info.cgi?sale sid=&ref=DDosrs00&do=transfer_domain) /P will transfer registrations for $24.95, that includes on the registraion, no bells and whistles.
The do domain parking and a bunch of other nifty things that many will not need. I'm changing my domains as the come up for renewal.
Naw. M$ would buy NSI, eat the employees, then change ("improve") DNS. Oh, and change ALL the domains to point to microslut.
I'm not sure I'm remembering this correctly, but NSI was already purchased by Verisign.
Domaingeeks looks better than NSI (the only way to look worse at this stage would involve sodomy and microsoft products)
I think you should clarify this to be non-consensual sodomy...
I work for a domain name registration company, Domain People Inc.,
(www.domainpeople.com) and a transfer of registrar is usually a painless ordeal.
You need to select a registrar of your choice and follow their procedures to transfer
your domain name to them. This usually involves filling out some kind of form and
then submitting the registrar a fee.
What happens next is usually a mystery to most. The registrar you are transferring to,
makes a request to the NSI Registry (where all domain names are registered and
pointed). The NSI Registry then emails the registrar you are leaving (in your case
NetSol) and lets them know a request for your domain name to be transferred has
been made. If NetSol has any objections, then they have to write back saying so, if
they agree to the transfer they have to write back indicating that as well. Now,
normally (and we all know NetSol doesn't follow the rules of normal) Netsol will let
the transfer take place if no moneys are owed to them for that domain name, nor are
there any pending disputes with the name. Having said all this, if the NSI registry
does not get an answer from the leaving registrar (NetSol) in 5 days, the transfer
goes ahead any ways. After it has been transferred- NetSol can send you notice
after notice for non payment, but it does not matter as you are under the
management of a different registrar.
Feel free to email me with any further questions you may have: info@domainpeople.com
Domainmonger is pretty cheap at $17/year. As a bonus it doesn't have any "we own you" b.s. in their terms of service.
Julz (who you calling yella?)
I have done a little, really small, amount of research into this and the two companies that I have contacted will both do a transfer of a domain for you and can't see that there should be any problem with transferring domains from Internic, provided you're all paid up with Internic. All they need to do is change the registrar for the domain and charge you for 1 year plus they give you the balance remaining on the domain currently.
The two companies are JumpDomain and Gandi.
Gandi costs 12euro, about $12US per year and the transfer is free plus you get the credited for the balance of the domain. Gandi is also an accredited registrar with ICANN.
JumpDomain offers basically the same for $14.99US per year, except their conditions are a little less forgiving. You still own the domain though, unlike NSI. They are not an accredited registrar, but they use TUCOWS OpenSRS who apparently are and they say they are an RSP of TUCOWS.
I haven't transferred my domains as yet, as I'm waiting for some my information from Gandi about minimum transactions.
Hope this helps. :-)
On May 10th I got a letter from NSI postmarked on May 5th telling me that my domain is going to expire on April 28th. Never mind that all this happened weeks after I transferred my domain, it just validates all of the reasons I decided to switch!
reread that.
At the discretion of the losing registrar
that means, since NSI is the losing registrar (they are losing your business), they have the final say. Am I missing something?
I don't think you should let your fondness of Jon Postel blind you to the incredible lameness that is NSI. They suck. And it's not worth my time to point out all the reasons why they suck. Do a search on Slashdot for "Network Solutions" and you will find plenty of articles and comments detailing why this is so.
This was predicted in the last story, that someone would wonder about this, and there would be an "Ask Slashdot" on precisely this topic.
:)
I'm amused.
However, NSI does suck, their policies are evil and their business practices absurd. So I'm all for it; vote with your money, vote with your feet!
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pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
I wouldn't put anything past NSI at this point, and I think they may be quite likely to do things liek this until a court rules against it.
The problem is, if it's in the contract you agreed to that they can, then they may be able to get away with it, legally.
On the other hand, when did this provision get added? Was it just with this recent batch of insanely restrictive rules that it was added? Because if so, I beleive several states require that any added provisions to an existing contract be given a 30-90 day time period during which you can object to added provisions. If you object to them, then they are required to fulfill the contract under the current terms or end the contract after the 30-90 day period.
I'm not positive about how these laws work, but this is what I've gathered from the companies I've done business with.
Can any lawyers out there clarify or expand on this?
I'm no wizard at DNS, but IIRC, you specify who your top-level domain is in your configuration files.
Of course, that would almost certainly mean name reolution would only work for people using the same server...
But what the hell, I'm game. Let's start a second TLD based on principles of truth, justice, OSS, GNU, and the American Way. (by which I mean not the OSI way)
I'll make suckers who use OSI remember my raw IP address.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
While I like the idea of OpenSRS, and am inclined to give extra leniency to anyone competing with NSI, I'm leery of a registrar who feels it necessary or apropriate to run a site like this -- blatant spamdexing, Arial-only fonts, etc. Ugh. We've been through one registrar who abused the network for the sake of profit, how many more will there be? (yes, I know, lots. and I'm _really_ judging the proverbial book by its cover here)
From dotster's terms: Dotster may modify the Dispute Policy at its sole discretion at any time. Your continued use of the domain name registered to you after any such Dispute Policy modification shall constitute your acceptance of this Agreement and the modified Dispute Policy... You further agree and acknowledge that Dotster may make publicly available, or directly available to third party vendors, some, or all, of the domain name registration information you provide, for purposes of inspection or for targeted marketing...You also agree that Dotster shall have the right in its sole discretion to suspend, cancel, transfer or otherwise modify a domain name registration upon seven (7) calendar days prior written notice and after such time as Dotster receives a properly authenticated order from a court of competent jurisdiction, or arbitration award, requiring the suspension, cancellation, transfer or modification of the domain name registration.
From processing innovations': By using the Services under this Agreement, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by all terms and conditions of this Agreement and any pertinent rules or policies that are or may be published by us...You agree, during the period of this Agreement, that we may: (1) revise the terms and conditions of this Agreement; and (2) change the services provided under this Agreement. Any such revision or change will be binding and effective immediately on posting of the revised Agreement or change to the service(s) on our web site, or on notification to you by e-mail or regular mail as per the Notices section of this agreement, Section 20. You agree to review our web site, including the Agreement, periodically to be aware of any such revisions....You agree that we may, in our sole discretion, delete or transfer your domain name at any time.
Naw, some people consent to being brutally sodomized by NSI, just as they'd line up to buy Microsoft Sodomy 5.0, the finest and most innovative form of sodomy developed through years of secret research. From the companies that brought you The RBL Potential Lawsuit Fiasco and "Bob."
What I'd want out of a registrar, based on our experiences sofar, would be:
Yep, or 'greatspot.cc'.
That's 'CC', as in Clear Channel Communications; the broadcasting people? Betcha it was a CC radio station you heard the spot on; a buddy of mine is a sales rep for one, and informs me that CCC is the parent of the company registering those domains for the Cocos and Keeling Islands.
Cheers,
-- jra
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NSI runs the master registry database. A version of the agreement can be found on the icann website but even further digging there will even show the exact amounts NSI gets from the Dept of Commerce and from the registrars for running the registry and which bank accounts to use for payments.
A very interesting conflict of interest could arise between the role of Network Solutions as database keeper and Network Solutions as competing registrar although the contracts try to close any holes.
I found this yesterday as I was digging for "when does an expired domain become available again" which isn't answered by NSI or ICANN at all.
The Virtual Bookcase: book reviews
I don't have a credit card unfortunately, but I'm going to see if I can get my webhost or someone else to transfer my domains as soon as possible. I'm fed-up with NSI and all the problems I've seen them cause people I know. It's rediculous that something so simple should be so complex.
NSI acts as if they're god's gift to the internet and hopefully they'll find themselves bending over to AOL as just another luser concept that only people with AOL accounts would bother to use. NSI and AOL deserve each other.
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
ok, this may be slightly off topic, but atleast this is about domains, and I need to vent my frustration somewhere...
On April 29th I got this e-mail from Registerfree since I had signed up to be notified of more free domain periods:
RegisterFREE, in our attempt to make all domain name registrations free, intends to offer FREE DOMAIN REGISTRATION for 5 to 20 minutes AT LEAST ONCE every day for 30 days, starting today. Because you asked to be notified of our next promotion, we are notifying you before the general public. We will offer two ten minute FREE periods between 6 p.m. (US eastern daylight time) Saturday, April 29, 2000 and 6 p.m. Sunday, April 30, 2000. RegisterFREE was the first to offer FREE domain registrations on the Internet. During our first FREE promotion hundreds of thousands showed up at our site and we gave away more than 5000 domains. To give everyone an opportunity this time we're doing it differently. We are not giving the exact time of the free promotion, but instead we're promising that we'll give away domains at random intervals EVERYDAY.
Now, I was very impressed by this move, as I was one of those frustrated by not being able to get to their site the first time. I was also lucky enough to catch one of these first periods of free domain registrations. Immediatly after filling out the form I received an e-mail which said the domain will be registered, gave me a key to change my info for it, and said it should show up in the whois database in a few days. A few friends of mine also filled out the forms to get their free domains.
That was two weeks ago. I still don't have my free domain. It never showed up in the whois database, my key to edit the info doesn't work, and my friends haven't gotten their either. They also stopped having free periods after the first few days. My one friend e-mailed them and they claimed they had no record of his domain registration. My e-mails have gone unanswered.
The shoddy service I've received from registerfree, which is supposed to help win them customers has only convinced me further to never use their services.
Does anyone else have any insight into this matter?
Has anyone gotten any free domains?
Could this go as to constitute false advertising?
Thanks in advance
--- May this post be indexed by spiders, and archived for all to see as my internet epitaph.
May this post be indexed by spiders, and archived for all to see as my Internet epitaph.
>sue them and win.
IANAL, just a basically honest guy, so what puzzles me about the whole contraversy is how the laws of Virginia affect an interstate (or in some cases, international) commercial transaction?
I figure that if Federal Law (or the laws of another sovereign nation) say that a domain name is the IP of the registered party, then this pre-empts anything NSI attempts to assert.
It's fascinating to consider how corporations cry & wail over the theft of their IP, while at the same time they are stealing it from other people . . .
Geoff
I think I see a trend here. Maybe for them it really would be easier to muzzle the entire internet than to produce p
Has anyone here used Gandi? They were recommended by the Domain Name Buyer's Guide as being cheap and non-evil. But before I start registering with them, does anyone have any personal experience with them?
The new policy should only affect new domain registrations. This is because you agreed to an old policy when you first registered. Therefore old registrations are still under the old policy. How do other registrars verify that you are the true owner of the domain when you call in and tell them to "switch over your domain"?
Elijah Chancey www.elijahsadventure.com nomadic IT consultant, bicycling across america "all that you touch / and all
Find the registrar you want to use, contact them and ask them to transfer your current domains at NSI to them, your new registrar.
They want your business and most are happy to do it. I just did this myself a few weeks ago and switched from NSI to DomainDiscover.com. All in all, it was a pleasant, painless experience. DomainDiscover doesn't charge a transfer fee, but has you instead sign up for an additional year through them for $30 USD. They honor the rest of the time you had on NSI's contract.
It says in the article that the changes would take affect the next time you renew your domain.
Freejack, I think Devin was looking at that discountdomainregistry.com site. I felt the opensrs site was quite tasteful, but the Discount Domain one isn't quite as pretty.
"There are some people who, if they don't know, you can't tell 'em." - Louie Armstrong
Here's what I imagine: Extend bind to send any request for a domain not ending in /\.(com|edu|org|biz|??)$/ to the "geek" root server(s).
This reminds me of name.space. Anyone here remember when Eugene from AlterNIC made netsol.com point to AlterNIC.net? Remember when he went on the lam?
There was a time when any time of the day, I would check my mailbox, and Karl Denninger from MCS would've fired off the latest salvo in his continuing argument with some guy name Perry from... ICANN'T remember. And now AlterNIC and eDNS.net are both gone. But name.space soldiers on... for what that's worth.
"There are some people who, if they don't know, you can't tell 'em." - Louie Armstrong
As someone who deals with NSI regularly, I can say that they are indeed evil! Do you want some first hand examples? C'mon, you can try these yourself!
1. Try and make a domain name change via an email template. Did it work? Did you have to wait a couple days to see if the change went live? Now try making the same change with almost every other register via an https form. Notice the simplicity, and instant feedback. What kind of company (other than an evil one) would put you through such email template hell when cheaper, more customer-oriented alternatives exist?
2. Try and resolve a change request failure with NSI via email. Notice that aside from the automated response, you never receive a reply.
3. Try and find NSI's customer service number on their web page. How long did it take you? When you call the number, is it constantly busy so that you don't even get the pleasure of being put on hold for 30 minutes? When you have to call the number a month later on a different issue, is it still busy? how about 1 year? Bonus points if you can say exactly why NSI can't increase their phone support capability despite knowing that it is woefully inadequate for years.
4. How much did you pay for your domain name for NSI? Was it marked up 200% from what competing registrars charge?
Here's my favourite bit of NSI hell.. Although you may not be able to replicate it as readily as the others. One of the domains in good standing that I administered at the time (mprint.com) was suddenly, without warning, transfered to a different owner. That owner then pointed their name servers to match our original ones, presumably so we would not notice the change of ownership. They screwed up a bit, however, and we found out. Imagine my surpise when we finally tracked down a network problem to the domain name registration information being wrong! When pressed for information network solutions said that they had a "golden agreement" with the ISP that took our domain name away, and that they make changes for that ISP without proven authorization. Luckily the domain name was given back to us because the ISP claimed it had been taken "in error". The whole situation was really fishy, however.
So, who *wouldn't* want to transfer their domain name away from this greedy, kafka-esque bureaucracy that has not concept whatsoever of customer service?
-OT
My question about NSI "reclaiming" a domain: companies like Amazon have their domains trademarked (such trademarks have been upheld in court). So if NSI yanks the amazon.com, aside from facing a lawsuit, what can they do? Very few people would risk Amazon's wrath and use the domain.
There is some mention of the fact that NSI reserves the right to revoke a domain if it is to be transferred. Does anyone know how likely NSI is to do something like this? Is there any way to prevent it?
This can be answered very simply, and your spreading panic isn't helping one bit. ICANN developed the Shared Registration System with two features explicitly included:
If NSI tried to take back a domain just because you requested a transfer, they would not only be subject to a lengthy and expensive lawsuit, they could be removed as a registrar by ICANN.
Don't spread foolish rumors. This is just a waste of time. Slashdot staffers should know better, for pete's sake.
On the other hand, I suppose it's great entertainment seeing how many teenage slashdotters can dance on their pinheads.
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lake effect weblog
{Network engineer in Chicago--looking for work!}
NSI is an American company that runs the master registry by contract with ICANN. ICANN is a non-profit corporation with board members appointed by various entities, some of which are the longstanding US entities with an interest in the DNS, some to represent Europe and other countries. This was a grand compromise about 3 years ago after a conference at the White House.
Under ICANN any qualifying company can become a domain registrar, and scores have already. This is intended to provide competition in the domain registry marketplace, and it clearly has.
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lake effect weblog
{Network engineer in Chicago--looking for work!}
It's called the Anti-CyberSquatting act (or some such nonsense).
The bill was S.1948 (read Title III) and passed as an amendment to other legislation.
NSI revoking the domain simply because you decided to go elsewhere (and had plenty of time left on your existing legitimate registration) would violate several areas of law
Indeed, which is why they're required by ICANN policy to transfer it to your chosen registrar on your request. If they were to violate this, they could be booted as a registrar, apart from any other legal considerations. Domain transfer is a built-in feature of the SRS (shared registration system), which many of the knee-jerkers on Slashdot don't seem to know or care.
Think about this -- what would happen if NSI claimed ownership of Microsoft's or Yahoo's or Altavista's domain name? The intellectual-property lawyers would be all over them in seconds! The name itself has got to be the intellectual property of the company.
NSI was not claiming the intellectual property rights; these two rulings were not addressing the question of whether the company or NSI owned the rights to the domain. They were about whether a domain name is subject to certain property laws such as garnishment (Virginia) or registrar liability (California). They haven't really addressed the issue of whether John Smith or Mary Jones or Widgets, Inc. "owns" a domain name; if anything, the judges and ICANN have all tiptoed around this question. The judge in California practically begged Congress to pass a law settling the question for once and for all.
Guess who Congress would side with on that one?
Anyone up to putting a RFC together? (And subsequently stuffing it down ICANN's throat?)
An RFC for what? Are you sure the things you want aren't already in place? In any case, this has already moved far beyond the capability of the net to "legislate" and well into the realm of intellectual property law. That RFC wouldn't be worth the paper it is (not) printed on; one lawsuit could blow it away like so much lint.
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lake effect weblog
{Network engineer in Chicago--looking for work!}
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lake effect weblog
{Network engineer in Chicago--looking for work!}
llywrch asks:
IANAL, just a basically honest guy, so what puzzles me about the whole contraversy is how the laws of Virginia affect an interstate (or in some cases, international) commercial transaction?
In the main, because Network Solutions is a corporation domiciled in the Commonwealth of Virginia. You generally have to sue a person or corporation where they "live". Secondarily, because the NSI contract specifies that Fairfax County is the jurisdiction of choice for issues relating to their contract. (This is normal for contracts, IIRC.)
I figure that if Federal Law (or the laws of another sovereign nation) say that a domain name is the IP of the registered party, then this pre-empts anything NSI attempts to assert.
Actually, federal law does not state that a domain name is the IP of the registered party. A domain name that is similar to a trademark is subject to certain rules, but under federal law, a domain name is not yet explicitly intellectual property in and of itself.
Besides, the rulings in question did not, repeat not, address whether NSI "owns" the name or the trademark, only whether the domain name was "property" for legal purposes of liability (i.e. like when you sue your neighbor to return your hedge-trimmer).
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lake effect weblog
{Network engineer in Chicago--looking for work!}
This is part of the ICANN/NSI negotiated settlement. When a domain is transferred between registrars a year is tacked onto the term of the registration to a max of ten years.
"Although we may build the technology that we define as tools, we must be vigilant that those tools do not define us."
It used to be $9 wayyy back - it was dropped to $6 some time ago.
"Although we may build the technology that we define as tools, we must be vigilant that those tools do not define us."
A much friendlier version of this agreement will be available and in force this week - the basic changes will most certainly meet your requirements as noted...
"Although we may build the technology that we define as tools, we must be vigilant that those tools do not define us."
To your first point...check out What Is...spamdexing (a definition)...I have a hard time believing that our use of metatags qualifies as spamdexing.
To your second point, it's actually Times New Roman exclusively.
It's not pretty, but it is full of content and conforms to a reasonable estimation of standardized HTML (with the exception of some lame font elements in a list item array). If it matters, it has less than 1/2 of the standardized design problems of our competitors...
"Although we may build the technology that we define as tools, we must be vigilant that those tools do not define us."
Is there any publication out there (or person) who has performed a rating/analysis of non-NSI registars? I'd love to see a chart that compares prices, contract-restrictiveness, customer service responsiveness, etc.
Is there such a report?
-jason
Everyone's always talking about what hosers the guys at NSI are. Yet, I'm old enough to have gotten several domains directly from Jon Postel, and I have never known NSI to screw anyone who wasn't actively trying to be a dick.
Sure, they yank domains from cybersquatters, because otherwise it'd be impossible to control the costs of doing business on the Internet. What makes a cybersquatter less reprehensible than a company that is just trying to serve the needs of the majority of their customers?
NSI has made a couple of big mistakes, and they've been crippled by Jon's death. But they are not the evil moneygrubbers the propaganda makes them out to be. In fact, for years they didn't even charge for domains despite having the legal right to do so.
What exactly are the motivations of the people who insist that they are evil? I don't see the AlterNIC guys in the headlines too often anymore... are they mad that nobody paid any attention to them, or something? They had good ideas but poor public relations, it seems to me.
--Charlie
They didn't merge with AT&T, so they don't have access to the Death Star.
Princess Leia: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
Grand Moff Tarkin: Fear will keep those systems in line, fear of this battle station.
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
If NSI shutdown a domain when a transfer request was put in that wouldn't be a big deal as the new agentcy would just re-registure the name.
If NSI resold the domain or held on to the domain in some way instead of honnering a transfer the domain holder would have grounds to sue.
Such a case would not be cut and dry.
It would be nessisary to prove that NSI acted in responce to the domain transfer.
It would be nessisary to prove that the domain transfer request releases the domain holder from NSIs contract.
NSI would have to prove that they in revoking the domain did act within the bounds of the contract and what they did was not wholesale theft.
There is also the whole trademark issue that may enter into the picture of the domain holder owns the trademark to his/her domain.
It wouldn't be a cut and dry case and there would be much image bloodshead (trashing of each other).
I would hope this alone would give NSI pause before trying something like this.
Sadly I suspect if NSI dose pull this the first few victoms won't be able to sue.
If however something happend to Microsoft.com.... Microsoft has enough image scars to act as armor for an NSI vs Microsoft lawsute....
I don't actually exist.
...Ask me this question again in 5-10 working days. After the last story about NSI, I went to www.jumpdomain.com and filled out their form to transfer a domain from someone else to them. The form was simple enough, if anyone's interested, e-mail me in 5-10 working days and if the mail gets through to me, the transfer most likely worked out okay. =)
Or, for that matter, has anyone out there every used jumpdomain to transfer off of NSI?
/GUINEA PIG MODE ON
Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away. -Rob Malda
I don't know, but I can tell you about one of them.
www.volumehost.com
$25 for 1 year or
$20 for 2+ years
www.volumehost.com (OpenSRS affiliate)
$25/yr for new/transfer domain
$20/yr for 2 or more years
Yeah, and what's the cost of transferring a domain like this?
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
Register.com has a web based form to transfer registar. I can't imagine NSI doing anything to muck it up as wouldn't that make them libel for business losses?
No, I don't think I have missed the point. If someone owns a road that people use to get to your business, and they decide to tear it up for no good reason and cut off access to your business, they are going to get sued. It doesn't matter WHO owns it, if they do something unfair and malicious, it their heads on the line.
We had to register some domains for a client, I decided to save the $ by doing it through Joker. No problems at all, saved a lot of $, boss appeared happy.
.. "
:\
Then a few days ago my boss lets me know he registered a bunch more domain names. I ask what registrar he used. He tells me NSI.
Me: "WHY? They charge $70!"
Boss: "But they are an AMERICAN company! I trust them! Not some silly kid web site in Europe
*sigh*
Any ideas on what I can do? Persuading him to let me transfer a bunch of domains isn't going to be an easy task, especially from grand ol' american NSI.
BilldaCat
Well..
1) Who is the domain registered TO? (not the contacts; the actual registrant)
2) Who are the contacts?
If at least one of these are you, you should have no problems modifying the registration.
If the contacts are generic role accounts at youre previous employer (so you can't modify them) and the domain is registered to some BS company you made up.. you might have trouble.
NSI and NetSol... are one and the same though.....
I've been using joker.com to register my domains. It's only $13.00 and their Terms and conditions didn't looks nearly as bad as any others. Someone take a look though because now that I look closer, there may be a couple of statements that are questionable, I'm no lawyer.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
>Imagine if your bank were to declare that your deposits with them were not physical, but electronic...
All the obvious legal issues aside, I would imagine that the bank would start losing customers pretty fast and probably wouldn't get much new business.
Everyone on this site is complaining about that clause but I haven't heard of one actual report of NSI taking away a domain name for their own use or to sell to someone else. The simple reason is because it would be bad business practice. People transfer domain names every day, some of them worth lots and lots of money, and NSI doesn't stop any of it from happening.
That clause is just legal backspeak to protect their asses. Everyone needs to calm down.
LL
"If you are falling, dive." -Joseph Campbell
From a command prompt (at least on any Linux box with named installed) type:
whois domain@whois.networksolutions.net
If you have a popular word for a domain name, for example 'hello.com', this might not be such a good idea, but how about not renewing the domain name and then registering as new under a new registrar?
This action should have dispelled any notion you had that NSI will avoid an action because it makes them look like doddering morons. Really.
.02
My
Quux26
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
Are you entirely missing the point here?? NSI cannot be responsible for your losses because they're saying the domain isn't yours in the first place. They can - and are - doing damage to people's businesses and the courts are backing them (read: Sex.com).
Yeesh.
.02
My
Quux26
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
What I do mind is when Amazon sues Barnes & Noble. This is offensive rather than defensive. In the same light, I take umbrage when NSI uses such tactics to screw the original owner of Sex.com and positions themselves to do it in the future.
Subtle, but quite different.
.02
My
Quux26
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
A road is seen as property. NSI is claiming that your domain is more akin to a phone number. They are claiming - and the courts are backing them up - that you can't lose something that you don't own. This means that any losses aren't their responsibility.
This isn't a hypothetical, this is occuring as I type this. Which part of this do you disagree with??
Yeesh.
.02
My
Quux26
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
I'd say this calls for a Stallman-esque boycot of NSI. Find out about places like dotster.com or processing innovations (I have a domain registered with each). This is absolute bull****, and I'm sorry to see the community diving for shelter. How many /. readers sit in a position to select which registrars their company uses? Just a few, I'd guess...
.02
My
Quux26
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
Alternate Theory
The End.
NSI claims on their site and as well as other registrars, that they hold no responsiblity for you losing your domain.
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-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
You don't say what the domain name is so we can't double check the registration. But if the owner of the domain is listed as your ex-employer, they own the domain, period. You will need them to transfer ownership of the domain to you. If they won't transfer it you're out of luck. And the lesson being, next time you register a domain for yourself, register it in your name. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but some lessons in life are that way.
It is sad really. I've been admining Internet domains for so long that my InterNIC handle is just my initials (TDP) with no numbers in it. It is painful to see the system corrupted and twisted in this way.
Thad
The Bolachek Journals
Network Solutions could refuse to transfer domains to other registrars, but if they do for many institutions, they risk being audited by the government for refusing to give up their government instituted monopoly. ie, bad news for NSI, they are out of the 'give us free money' business of being a registrar.
But, if you never try, you'll never find out, will you? I know many people that have transfered domains around with no problems. But, how they react to a mass exodus, we'll see.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
Okay a couple steps for Register.com, my current domain registrar choice.
1. Get the PDF form. There is a web based version here, but it prints worse.
2. Fill it out
3. Get a photocopy of your drivers license or something and have it notorized.
4. Fax it or mail it. It takes around 3-4 days.
NSI can only block you if:
- The transfer request was initiated within the first 60 days of the original registration date
- There is a dispute over the domain name
- There is a pending bankruptcy of the domain name holder
- There is a dispute over the identity of the domain name holder
- At the discretion of the losing registrar
So be careful of the last clause. In theory, they are only shooting themselves in the foot, and the legal notification to change should hold up in court. and of course, the implied IANAL.I garnered all this info from the Register.com help pages in preperations for my domain transfer today. Also, I've been quite happy with Register.com's hosting so far, so this is all IMHO.
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
NSI revoking the domain simply because you decided to go elsewhere (and had plenty of time left on your existing legitimate registration) would violate several areas of law (IMHO/IANAL):
- Restraint of trade against you (they're taking away your ability to do business!)
- Monopoly-level restraint of trade against the other domain registrars (Keeping them from attracting existing domains -- Microsoft would be proud and Janet Reno would come running!)
- Cyber-Squatting (intent to sell a trademarked/copyrighted domain for a profit -- you did remember to trademark it, right?)
Think about this -- what would happen if NSI claimed ownership of Microsoft's or Yahoo's or Altavista's domain name? The intellectual-property lawyers would be all over them in seconds! The name itself has got to be the intellectual property of the company. Like a thousand people have pointed out before me, all you're paying NSI to do is- make sure there's only one of each name,
- associate that name with an IP address,
- and make that database reliably available to ISPs everywhere!
Simple enough, right? Now, all you need is the cash reserves to have a pack of rabid lawyers at the ready! Good luck -- there has to be a better way to do things like this.Anyone up to putting a RFC together? (And subsequently stuffing it down ICANN's throat?)
_ ______________
_________________________________________________
Ever notice that MCSEs advertise the fact, but Sun & Novell certified people don't?
"...America's great minds of today, teaching America's great minds of tomorrow. Poor bastards." -- A Beautiful Min
We operate a six year old Internet services company and we have thousands of domains registered with NSI and owned by our clients.
It may be one thing to reassign one or two
domains, but as an IPP, what could we really do
to change things and go with a new provider
without sticking ourselves or our clients with
a huge bill. I've been waiting on the phone
for many hours trying to reach a NSI staffer
for various domain problems, and many times I've
thought that it would be great to have a choice.
Still, organizing and executing such a move without disruption to our clients would be a
nightmare undertaking. What we need is a
stable, reliable registrar with tools to help
us with many domains simultaneously. Any thoughts?
-Gary
Digital Marketing Inc. og@digimark.net
http://www.digimark.net/
-- Gary Goldberg KA3ZYW 301/249-6501 AIM:OgGreeb Digital Marketing Inc., Bowie, MD
Spot.cc is advertising here in Houston and are still saying that Houstonians have a first chance at the new domain names. No one has mentioned why anyone would want a Cocos Island domain, yet, though. :)
Bolie IV
I used Discount Domain Registry, an OpenSRS affiliate, and had my domain transfered away from NSI in about 2 business days. It was simple and painless and now I'm saving money as well as being able to manage my domain without annoying emailed templates.
-Rusty
The Master (Angelo Rossitto) in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, "Not shit, energy!"
I'm sure that Mr Archer is a good guy, and intends to do just as you say...
But what happens when he retires/sells/whatever the company? The new owners would be much less likely to run such a business out of love, and instead be in it for the (gasp) money. They have the signed agreement in hand giving them the power that Mr. Archer has, but (according to your report) doesn't intend to use...
That's the problem with all these "agreements". If I am going to invest all my time and money into a domain, what promise do I have that I'll actually get to reap the benefits of my work? Are you familiar with what has happened with sex.com?
Frankly I find this entire subject very worrisome, especially with the astronomical prices some of these domains are going for...
In illa quae ultra sunt
Could anyone find the terms on register.com? After looking around the site for awhile I couldn't find it. Are they trying to hide it or something, or am I just being stupid and missing it?
Here is a Depost Account Contract. Read it carefully.
In short, once you give it to the bank, the bank owns it.
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
I've been looking all over for a list of affiliates that I can transfer my domains to and haven't been very successful. Recommendations?
If the contact info is no longer valid, the ISP that hosts the domain can *also* be a tech contact. So basically NSI sends them a form , which they can then use to let your domain go.
"A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither. " Ben Franklin
NSI has a MODIFICATIONS TO AGREEMENT section to their Domain Name registration agreement, which means that they can change the contract anytime they want. It also has wording which means that you automatically agree to these changes simply by continuing to use their services. So if you agreed to some other form of the agreement previously for a specific term, that is no protection.
Look for such clauses when you switch, if you agree to a contract, modifications should be very limited, not totally open ended like NSI.
Of course NSI does say that if you don't like the changes you can always terminate your service.
About 2 weeks ago I transferred two of my domains from NSI to register.com. The process went VERY smooth and they emailed me as soon as they received the paperwork.
Basically you have to fill out a form from register.com and have it notarized and mail it to them.
I was just amazed at how fast register.com contacted me after receiving the paperwork. I've been trying to do DNS updates with NSI since january and haven't gotten a response (except autoresponders saying that my dns server doesn't exist).
I'm now doing all my domains with register.com and totalnic.
- Say you want to transfer, give 'em a credit card (so they can bill you $19 for a one-year extension)
- They send an e-mail to the administrative contact as listed currently in WHOIS, with a PIN confirmation code
- Key that into NameIt's system, and they send a message to NSI (or whoever) to request the transfer
- NSI takes their sweet time to approve (took 3 days here - during the week)
- Transfer complete...
All in all, I was impressed...amazon would probably sue them or whoever bought it for copyright infringement...
-- Point? None! Cob.
You forget... Microsoft owns part of NSI, so this will "never happen."
What do you expect from people who call everything a "web address"? They are starting to become as stupidly greedy as Micro$oft.
Does that mean that the other registrars can't register it?
Think about it. Since they are the oldest, they have most of the good, short names. That's worth a fortune. Perhaps they're trying to recreate the good old days when they were the only one.
penguinicide... when jumping out a window just won't do.
I contacted my new registrar, asked them to transfer a domain from NSI. First they told me it would take upto a week. After 2 weeks, still nothing. When I contacted the registrar they told me NSI had DENIED my transfer. When I contacted NSI, they refused to cancel my domain. So I end up paying for another rip-off year at NSI, when I could have paid half.
---------
AlmostFreeLinux.com
Business will drop dramatically from those who know what they are doing.
Slight problem. Of the people who register domains, how many "know what they are doing?"
For example, here in Central Ohio, there have been radio ads for Spot.cc which lets you reserve domain names in the *.cc domain. Unfortunately, they don't mention that you could (a) loose your domain name if it's trademarked or that (b) you're actually paying more than if you registered through NSI.
A lot of people have gone ahead and registered domain names that probably won't be worth very much. Ah well...
Because when you transfer they don't actually get any money - so they ask for another year to earn at least something.
-Ariel
NSI is clearly trying to stop the flow of resellers that are coming into the field via OpenSRS and other competitors. Now they are trying hit us with a "Move it and Lose it" clause. NSI has clearly gone to far.
OpenSRS certainly has a draw for folks wanting cheap domains and better management of those registrant records. But, I am afraid that OpenSRS is simply going to muddy the dirty water even more so. It is just "too" easy for someone to become a registrar reseller.
Domain Backlash is among us.
Sativa
<A HREF="http://www.marijuana.com">Marijuana.Com</A> Just hit it!
Marijuana.Com Just Hit It!
The only thing keeping me from moving my domains to another registrar is the question, what happens to your domain if the company responsible for maintaining it goes out of business? Some of these newer registrars don't exactly inspire confidence based upon their Websites and the (somtimes, lack of) information provided. I know Network Solutions will be in business 10 years from now. I'm not so certain about some of these other folks...
Need I say more?
It's probably easier to find an OpenSRS affiliate to handle your domains for you than to become a new affiliate, unless you have hundreds of domains yourself. It was fairly painless for us, but requires a lot of setup and back-and-forth with the OpenSRS people so takes at least a few days, maybe as long as a couple of weeks.
-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-
My mom's going to kick you in the face!
Either try to contact the OpenSRS people directly about becoming an affiliate, or otherwise try to contact an OpenSRS affiliate to handle your domains for you.
-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-
My mom's going to kick you in the face!
seems likely that NSI will just use this to pick on little guys. as *if* they would take away a big corps domain name. can you imagine - www.microsoft.com taken back because they decided to switch registrations. NSI would be sued flat in 10 minutes.
You are repeating yourself, posting the same thing you did in the original article?!
sheesh! cut and paste is hardly worth giving yourself the +1 bonus.
-jerdenn
-jerdenn
Jim Archer, the guy who runs Processing Innovations, also works for my company and is a good friend of mine. It's a one man operation and he's a nice guy. If he has that language there it's only to protect himself (I presume at a lawyer's recommendation). He would never go around revoking domain names of registrees of his (I recommend many friends to his registration service which he doesn't really do for the money but more as a service to the community)
Register.com charges nothing for the transfer but requires the owner extend the length of the registration by at least one year. Ie. if your registration term expires in 10 months, you must register for one more year, in which case you will be guaranteed (to the extent their policies provide) 1 year 10 months before your domain must extend your term, like any domain. Not too bad :-)
Sometimes I wonder if people here read nothing but Slashdot. The worldview of 3/4ths of the posters here are so divorced from reality that a tremendous amount of intellectual potential is really going to waste. It pains me to see so many otherwise smart people getting whipped up into such frenzies over non-issues like this.
NSI is not going to "lose" valuable domains and re-sell them just because it's in the subscription agreement that they own your domain. I love the fact that every other registrar under the sun uses almost the same exact language and yet people excuse it because "so-and-so's not NSI." I sympathize with dislike of Network Solutions, they're a typical pain-in-the-ass monopoly company, just like the phone company.
Try sometime reading the terms of your bank account, credit cards, brokerage account, driver's license, or AAA membership, and you will likely be "shocked." Everybody who writes agreements goes to their utmost length to insert such "Cover My Ass" statements so they have some legal recourse in extraordinary circumstances.
I will readily retract and apologize for these statements if NSI does start pulling systematic monkey business with domains, but I'm not afraid b/c it isn't going to happen. Spend some time outside of Slashdot, get some fresh air, and stop making mountains out of nothing.
-cwk.
I really don't want to sound like a jerk here; I love the global connectivity the internet provides. It is just cool to ask someone from the other side of the planet a question, and get an answer in minutes. :)
But puh-leaze spare us the whining about U.S control of the domain names. Its not like we took over your national network. We _allow_ you to connect.
There is nothing to stop you from creating your own. Just don't try to screw us on the domain names.
Does anybody know if the new contract takes effect for those who have had Domains registered under previous contracts?? Doesn't NSI have to notify it's customers if they modify the contract?
Someone above asked for a List of OpenSRS affiliates (i.e. resellers). I have been trying to do the same, but never could get such a list, despite extensive searches.
Note that the Domain Name Buyers Guide does not cover any OpenSRS affiliate yet.
Last week, I decided to ask OpenSRS themselves, and opened a sales ticket and a support ticket. The support guy gave me the usual run around ("Our reseller list is confidential", "we cannot release such info", "try a web search").
The sales person was more helpful and gave me a list of five resellers:
- http://www.nal.qc.ca
- http://www.msnhosting.com
- http://internationalwebhostingservices.c om
- http://www.islelink.com
- http://www.msquaredweb.net
I checked them out, but none of them seemed exceptionally cheap or impressive.Independantly, I tried searching for such info myself. Here is what I found:
- JumpDomain 14.99$ a year.
- DiscountDomainRegistry 14.99$ a year.
- DomainMonger 17$ a year.
- Processing Innovations 15$ a year. I am not sure if they are OpenSRS or not. Some (see above) have objected to their agreement, since they can terminate the domain,
...etc. - Domains JH Cloos
- . Again not sure if he is OpenSRS or not. He offers domains for 12.50$. You cannot pay by credit card and need
- e-gold.
All of them provide online domain transfer from NSI or from other registrars.In case you are wondering, if your reseller goes out of business (many of them are small operations or a one-man-shows), then OpenSRS will be the registrar. The sales person told me they would help me find another registrar should this happen.
I am willing to maintain a list of OpenSRS resllers that offer cheap (20$ or less per year) domain registrations. If you find more, please let me know. You can contact me via the web site above or via 2bits.com (fill a contact form) or you can e-mail me at khalidATbaheyeldinDOTcom.
As a related issue, I have been looking for a PHP port of the OpenSRS library (Yeah, I am a Perl-Hater!), so I can implement it myself, shell out the 250$ minimum needed for being an Open SRS reseller, then I can provide domain registry for friends, family and clients. However, there is no such port planned by OpenSRS.org, and one reseller (forget which one) has a library that is working in every aspect except the encryption stuff.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
I, also, no longer use credit cards... (just worked in too many banks, I guess (-8 ). So I registered my domain name through a Web host who offered registration, before I found the Web host I really wanted. It's with InterNIC. Now NIC won't let me transfer it to the Web host I really do want. I "replied" as requested to their authorization e-mail, but they sent back some nonsensical e-mail about how I wasn't the one replying (so how did I get it, and how did they expect me to get their response?)!
Recently the Web host to whom I wish to transfer arranged a second time for NIC to send me the form, but when I click the "instruction" button, nothing happens... no such page. That's what happened 6 months ago, too. These are the people you call competent?
This was back in September or August, even earlier, and I had a client pay me (in part) by using her credit card to purchase the account I wanted at the same Web host where I had just placed her. In short, I have already spent a lot of money, and six months later, still cannot upload my site. I started to think about moving the domain from InterNIC, but didn't know if it could be done. Then the recent news broke... Now I'm sure I want to move it!
"You agree that we may, in our sole discretion, delete or transfer your domain name at any time."
In short: We'll do whatever we want, and you're screwed.
it is very easy to switch. NSI engineered these fears. it is pure manipulation.
the risk is far greater if you stay.
Use any OpenSRS registrar for easy fast and safe transfers:
the one you find on Tita-nic.com for example is very good.
please don't pay more then 11 - 15$ per domain per year.
we pledge to track any abuse by NSI you report to us.
we will publicize it widely. KeepYourDomain
>How do I know which Resistrar I have my domains with ?
on Tita-nic.com push "who owns/whois",
search for your domain, then see: "Server used for this query:"
for any transfer, it is not necessary to know.
just get the transfer done with a few clicks
and have the domain for a full additional year
on a safe place within 5 days.
"I will readily retract and apologize for these statements if NSI does start pulling systematic monkey business with domains, but I'm not afraid b/c it isn't going to happen. Spend some time outside of Slashdot, get some fresh air, and stop making mountains out of nothing."
I think this is naive. Contrary to your belief, I and many other Slashdot readers are rather careful readers of other contracts. Yes, they are often surprising in the breadth of their claims, and yet we sign them anyway. This is because of legal precedent. Regardless of the specific wording of the contracts, there is a great deal of legal precedent demonstrating that the courts will protect consumers to a certain extent, and everything you mentioned was a consumer service.
What NSI is doing is setting precedent in an area of law that is still virgin territory. I consider their hosting of my domain to be the equivalent of their keeping my jewels in their safe deposit box in return for consideration: my monthly fee.
NSI is asserting that my domain, which pre-existed their company, is the creation and sole property of their company, to do with as they choose at their sole discretion. I don't actually suspect that they intend to simply take it and auction it off to the highest bidder. Nevertheless, they have now asserted their "right" to do exactly that if they so choose, and that if they do so, I have no recourse because it was theirs, not mine.
I want this assertion to be soundly trounced, both legally and commercially, before it sets a legal precedent with some scary ramifications. People who make statements such as yours are the ones who should really get out more. "I don't care what the contract says, bad things only happen to the other guy...." Lot of bad things happen to people in contractual relationships, and when they do, the wording of the contract and previous legal precedent matter enormously.
Imagine a scenario where NSI has created this precedent, but they don't meddle with any of our domains. "There," you say, "I told you." Then along comes another registrar. It offers to pay you to let them host your domain. "Wow," you say, "this is great! Real competition." You transfer your domain to them, Acme Domains, Inc., and once they've gathered enough of them, they turn around and repossess them and begin auctioning them off to other bidders. "Hey!" you scream. "What's the deal?"
They then inform you that they were only providing you with the equivalent of a phone number, that they didn't just take it (even though it's theirs) that they actually bought it from you originally, and now they are changing to a different line of business: domain auctions. Thank you very much. They point to the legal precedent set by NSI and the courts rule in their favor.
I think this is an issue that matters.
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."
Good domain names are so difficult to obtain that they sell for millions. There are a lot of large institutions with big legal departments out there that would be horrified to learn of NSI's legal claim, but I'm willing to bet that few of them know about this yet. Once they find out, we'll have some powerful allies.
Imagine if your bank were to declare that your deposits with them were not physical, but electronic, and as such were merely forms of information that were the product of your contract with the bank. Therefore, they actually owned your money, allowing you to use it at their "sole discretion", and if you tried to move it to another bank, they had no legal responsibility if the "information" somehow ended up in the hands of a third party.
I would guess that if this move got out, there would be a run on the bank. That's exactly what should happen to NSI as well as any other institution that claims ownership of something I deposit with them for a fee.
I suggest that we generate a Slashdot effect on NSI by getting the word out anyway we can, to everyone who will listen, hopefully causing a run on this "bank".
NSI would then either have to publicly change its policy, or publicly explain its unchanged policy. The latter would probably put them out of business as all the folks in the world who give computer advice decided en masse to advise against NSI. Either way, it would make news.
All eyes would be on them, with the press sniffing around for stories of NSI "losing" domains that were transferred away from them, probably making them much more careful. At the same time, there would probably be a few large organizations willing to combine their legal resources in a bid to stop NSI. After all, NSI isn't just setting its own policies, it's setting precedents -- precedents that organizations with billions in intellectual property and large legal departments wouldn't want set.
This approach is about the only way I can think of to increase our likelihood, as small fish ourselves, of maintaining possession of our hard-won domain names in the face of this sort of outrageous behavior.
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."
Ryan Finnie
Don't want to pay Lars? Sue him!
Don't want to pay Lars? Sue him!
Anyone have any pointers to a decent place that doesn't have these nasty aspects to their user agreements?
(The Discount Domain Registry has a little gem in their user agreement that allows they and their partners to send you announcements that will "predominately" be informative... Cheap domains with spam on the side?)
Doom: Hahahaha! With my new Gigantic World Destroying Laser of Disintegration I'll surely take over the world!
-Elendale (I hope that was funnier than it seemed to me... Oh well)AOL: No, we have a patent on Gigantic World Destroying Lasers of Disintegration. In fact, we own your parent company's parent company's shareholders. Also, we plan to destroy a new technology by restricting access to who we like, and destroying whoever we don't by massive theft of domain names
Doom: NO! How could you! That is completely wrong and evil! (he starts to cry)
AOL: HA! We own the copyright on tears! By crying you are breaking our encryption scheme! Pay up fool!
Doom: WTF?! I thought that was the MPAA/RIAA's domain... oh, never mind.
AOL: Yes, we ARE buisiness partners. After all, we all want to take over the world...
IANAT (I Am Not A Troll)
I transferred all of my domains from network solutions to opensrs. Every one of them went through, and it took about 10 days. Most of the people who have had problems waited until after their domain had expired before transferring it (or even never had paid for it). If you do it early enough, everything should go through just fine.
ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
apparently never dealt with NSI.
My question: How can we get NSI out of the role of running the registry database?
Well, looked it up and it won't be long depending on a couple of things:
23. Expiration of this Agreement. The Expiration Date shall be four years after the Effective Date, unless extended as provided below. In the event that NSI completes the legal separation of ownership of its Registry Services business from its registrar business by divesting all the assets and operations of one of those businesses within 18 months after Effective Date to an unaffiliated third party that enters an agreement enforceable by ICANN and the Department of Commerce (i) not to be both a registry and a registrar in the Registry TLDs, and (ii) not to control, own or have as an affiliate any individual(s) or entity(ies) that, collectively, act as both a registry and a registrar in the Registry TLDs, the Expiration Date shall be extended for an additional four years, resulting in a total term of eight years. For the purposes of this Section, "unaffiliated third party" means any entity in which NSI (including its successors and assigns, subsidiaries and divisions, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents and representatives) does not have majority equity ownership or the ability to exercise managerial or operational control, either directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries. "Control," as used in this Section 23, means any of the following: (1) ownership, directly or indirectly, or other interest entitling NSI to exercise in the aggregate 25% or more of the voting power of an entity; (2) the power, directly or indirectly, to elect 25% or more of the board of directors (or equivalent governing body) of an entity; or (3) the ability, directly or indirectly, to direct or cause the direction of the management, operations, or policies of an entity.
--
He lives in a world where those who do not run the client software of the omnipresent meme are unacceptable.
Now all we need is a BoycottNSI.com, hmm what registar should we use ;)
I load up a free ISP, for which I had to agree to a TOS agreement. The TOS had a clause stating that the terms of the agreement are subject to change at the ISP's whim, without notifying me in any real way.
I check a few free e-mail accounts, for which I had to sign TOS agreements with similar clauses.
In my .sig, I advertise my crappy website which is hosted for free by Tripod. To get it hosted, I clicked "accept" for yet another TOS agreement which binds me very tightly, but the service provider hardly at all.
There are now three organizations which could, more or less, claim my first born child if they wanted.
I'm hardly the only one. And these terrible practices (terrible for them when they abuse the agreements, and terrible for us to sign them) will keep on going until people just won't accept the agreements any more. Companies who make money by providing services will have to offer better terms if nobody will accept the crap that's standard now.
That includes NSI.
---
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
What people don't seem to realize is that No matter WHO you register with, NSI STILL gets paid! To become a registrar, all you do is pay over $100,000 USD, and buy access to NSI's interface. All of these other registrars register through NSI! It's all a big fat ass scam, and NSI could care less if they have to handle domains. They get paid regardless. If people leave NSI, it's less work for them, and more work for their customer registrars! No matter how oyu slice it, NSI has all the domains.
ah, i knew someone would find me out. But hey, its applicable and the first one didn't get much attention. Is it so bad to bring it back up to people who haven't seen it? Its not about the karma, I just thought it was a very good post and should be discussed.
thanks for the support :)
Now that Network Solutions has decided to do this, this is what is going to happen next:
Business will drop dramatically from those who know what they are doing.
Eventually this drop in business will effect them so much that they will consider repealing this new clause to their contract.
Due to their way-too-big egos, they will not repeal it for fear of looking like idiots (too late).
To make up for lost revenue, they will start taking popular domains away for frivilous reasons. A few hell.coms auctioned off here and there and they make up quite a bit of money.
If people haven't moved away from Network Solutions yet, they will now.
Pretty soon Network Solutions won't have any domains left and will go bankrupt unless they decide to fess up and give in (fat chance).
I recently transfered my domains out of NSI's control via www.domainmonger.com The site has an easy-to-use transfer form at the bottom of the page, and the entire process went without incident and took only a week. I also found the site fairly easy to use for administering my domain names as well.
I've heard that all domains are ultimately registered through NSI. Does anybody know how true this is? Cuz if it's true...then it doesn't do a lot of good to transfer your domain.
Hiall, I transfered my domain to www.discountdomainregistry.com and it was the easiest process ever! They have sooo many freebies and their domain control panel is really a breeze compared to the many e-mails I had to send to make updates when I used NSI. Oh I forgot...they only charge $14.99 per aditional years you'd liek to extend your registration for.
This is proof positive that the Net needs new TLD so that people can get away from NSI as fast a they can. NSI cannot claim TLD ownership at all, only domains.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
1) can a corporation unilatterally change the terms of acontract/agreement like that, without giving customers the options to opt out of the contract?
2) Can a corporation unilatterally say that what was yours is now ours, and tough on you...
3) what would they say about a class action suite by many of their customers who are ticked off by this (even if most mony in such a suite goes to the lawyers, etc.)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
We could all team up with the NSI and gang up on MS, thus getting their domain off the map and then eliminating their online presence as we know it.
I thought the domain name would be irrelevant, I gave full details. Yes, the registrant is my ex employer, I remain a technical contact, my friend who also works on the domain, is listed as billing and administrative contact.
:( But, I'll live and learn then I guess :(
Yea that does sound kinda harsh
I really think you should um... not assume the domain is faked. If you read my post, you'd actually realize that it is registered to my ex-company, I also stated that I no longer have contact with them, so where might this letter head come from?
Well, I recently wanted to change my domain registration, it is registered under the name of my previous employer.
NSI now has basically made this impossible for me, because I do not hold any contacts with my previous employer now, and they want someone with "Authority" within the current registrant.
I think these policies blow! My address is wrong on the domain, I recently moved so I cannot have forms mailed to my current address, because it is not listed anywhere on the current domain agreement.
Does anyone know what I can do? I do not like the fact that my previous employer has full control of my domain. I cannot have them change it because I quit on the "not so best of terms".