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Network Solutions Overhauls Whois Results
Robert Accettura writes "Network Solutions has updated its whois interface, giving it an interesting new twist. On top of regular info provided, it shows data that appears to be from Alexa, including a screenshot of the homepage (though not terribly recent), as well as looks up your IP, and displays lots of information on it. It even shows the server type, if it supports SSL, DMOZ, Yahoo listing, traffic ranking, and lock status. This comes right after they announced rapid DNS updates. Perhaps they are trying to win over the geeks before they turn on sitefinder?"
I ran a WHOIS query on my domain, kravlor.com, and it was placed in Chicago, IL, as opposed to Minneapolis, MN! Apparently I'm an e-commerce site, whatever that is, too!
Perhaps they are trying to win over the geeks before they turn on sitefinder?
Maybe. However, my bet is on friendlifying (hey, I just coined a word!) the service for something far more sinister. This wreaks of targetting manadrones with all sorts of feelgood updates that don't serve that much purpose for real geeks...
Maybe I'm paranoid, but when you're dealing with a group like this, you can't look at it with too much suspicion.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Whois.sc displays screenshot of website homepage at least a couple of months ago.
I assume you're referring to Sitefinder?
Yes, bad ideas happen. However, actively destroying expected behavior of the entire internet is just plain sinister. The only thing they can fall back on is that "technically" they didn't break anything in the sense that wildcards are legitimate.
Mistakes happen, sure. Sitefinder, however, was just malicious profiteering and status abuse.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Microsoft announced today that they are launching a competing Whois database, Microsoft Owner.
Microsoft Owner features an innovative, user-friendly interface that leverages off of the Microsoft setup Wizards.
To use:
click on icon for Microsoft Owner.
Next->Next->Please enter the domain name
Let's see. How about... www.google.com
Next->Next->Reboot
login->Next->done
www.google.com is Google!
Unknown host pong.
No, not spy on YOU. Their secret plan is to take over the United States first, then ta(j%&YHd369YF&^%#)G[NO CARRIER]
thisnukes4u.net
The info appears against my Network Solutions domains, but not my Tucows ones.
And in some respects the Tucows approach is better. A Network Solutions query shows all my details directly. Tucows requires a query to input a grahpics based password so it is harder to harvest the info.
Tried testing it out through a proxy that strips the referrer and user-agent fields (no tin-foil hat here ;-) ). Just kept giving me 302 redirects back to the same front page
Just what we need - a fussy site.
I'm a bit disappointed that you cannot perform a whois lookup on .us domains.
.us people? Were they denied access to the data?
Doesn't Verisign like the
Register.com lets me do a lookup. Perplexing.
Remember... ZG9uJ3QgZm9yZ2V0IHRvIGRyaW5rIHlvdXIgb3ZhbHRpbmU=
The poster got this a bit mixed up. The DNS updates are a VeriSign issue...Network Solutions, though once a VeriSign company is a completely seperate company now.
I think they got it from here:
http://www.whois.sc/
I use that for quite a while now...
How does the submitter expect the geeks to care when we have a shell to get faster results?
So Alexa is an Amazon company and they are making money by taking screenshots of copyrighted material?
Maybe everyone who has screenshots of their website in Alexa should file a DMCA complaint Amazon. Seems fair to me since Amazon loves bogus patents.
You have to click on "underlying Whois data" to get the registrar info. At least you still can.
Registrars are going to be annoyed about this.
Speaking of spying, I noticed that they finally give you an option of hiding your personal information. My ex-girlfriend always used to say they should just include links to mapquest so that crazy psychos could just print off the map directons, drive to her house and kill her. Bad enough that she's actually gotten CALLS from creepy people.
So at least that's one step in the right direction for Network solutions, even if they're going the wrong direction in so many other instances.
What I want to know is why they did away with having the results be returned as an image. Now my email is availible on that site in text format, leaving me suseptible to spam bots that search sites for email addresses.
I think that this improvement is because Network Solutions charges the most for domain registration and they are trying to provide a better product in order to justify the cost. The added information isn't a major step forward for domain owners, but it does help make Network Solutions seem like a more serious provider.
my blog
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah." - Lennon, McCartney
They'll impress me when they PUT SOME FUCKING SECURITY ON THE WHOIS SEARCH. Stupid ass companies like Network Solutions are the reason at least 50% of my spam is sent to a DOMAIN REGISTRATION ONLY email address.
Would it be terribly difficult to implement a system like whois.sc, where it shows images of your email address instead of text? I think not. I could probably do it and I'm a pretty green PHP coder.
Stll looks the same to me:
.ORG WHOIS information is provided to assist persons in determining the contents of a domain name registration record in the PIR registry database. The data in this record is provided by Public Interest Registry for informational purposes only, and PIR does not guarantee its accuracy.
localhost:~$ whois slashdot.org
NOTICE: Access to
This service is intended only for query-based access. You agree that you will us
(snip)
I don't know about this being intended to court the geeks, as any actual geeks would be rather unlikely to use a web interface to do a whois query.
Read, L
I checked out my domain, which I'm scared to give the name of now and at the top of the page is the following
.net, .org etc ...
Certified Offer Service - Make an offer on this domain
Backorder - Get this name when it becomes available
Similar Names - See suggested alternatives for
this domain
In addition a sidebar has all the other
tld
Excuse me? I don't mind getting legitimate offers to purchased this domain but they seem to be offering services to encourage squatters to either steal it (when the registration expires)
or to grab similar sounding names so they can profit off typos? Whose brilliant idea was this?