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NSI Registers Every Domain Checked
An anonymous reader writes "In a developing story, registrar Network Solutions has been caught front-running domain names. Any domain names searched via NSI's whois are being immediately purchased by the registrar, thereby preventing a registrant from purchasing the domain at any other registrar. There are multiple reports of this practice over at DomainState.com." Update: 01/09 01:58 GMT by KD : shashib writes to let us know that NSI has issued a response to the accusations of front running.
I'm sorry, but its simply time for free domain tasting to go. It costs something like $6 at the back end to register a domain for one year and its a hardship on no legitimate use if they have to pay another $6 to correct a typo.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
They won't lose any money (that's the whole point of "tasting", isn't it?), but that doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt them. If someone made a script that would search for every possible domain (up to say, 50 characters in length), no other registrar would be able to sell anything. There are enough competitors with enough money and enough at stake to pressure ICANN to take action if that happened. They could also theoretically sue NSI for attempting to create a monopoly (I assume there's some law it would break). Of course, that assumes that NSI doesn't pull the plug quickly enough.
G
"Domains may disappear" is a bit different than "NSI Registers Every Domain checked"
News does evolve over time... that's why it's news.
Here's to the crazy ones
Nah, that's a workaround.
The solution is to revoke their corporate charter.
Except that you might get a lack of response when a domain is registered because someone has registered it but not put any DNS records behind it. That plus your ISP can still sniff that request anyway (which apparently some of them do).
On the main topic: as if it isn't bad enough having to beat the general domain squatters to a domain before they "squat" all over it, now you've got to beat the registrar to it as well?
I never understand why given that this is blatantly anti competitive, companies aren't immediately prosecuted under anti trust laws with their directors going to prison. And don't forget about some nasty fines and civil penalties. So if we find a college kid who copies a movie we prosecute the f*ck out of them and financially squeeze them until they are thoroughly screwed over. But if you are a big company and you screw over millions of people, you get off scot-free. Apart from the fact that the rule of law is a joke if the powerful are not investigated it would be better for the economy and everyone's standard of living if anti trust laws were enforced. How many extra thousands of dollars every year do we spend on things because they are more expensive than they would naturally be if companies were not violating anti trust laws.
Yeah, but then you'd be arrested as a "terrorist."
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
Slashdot IS a botnet. Blame the Taco.
Guru Meditation #6d416769.21610a21
Anyone actually running a script (instead of typing names manually) would be someone legally responsible for DoS attack.
I was thinking more along the lines of trademark infringement. Something that would never go to court, but would result in a pretty quick C&D letter from a number of companies who are uncomfortable with their name being auto-registered on a whim.
I did verify that you have to initiate a purchase before they auto-register. If you simply do a search, they don't do anything (that I can see), but if you click on "Add Domains to Order", it shows up on a general whois a few seconds later, allocated for a year.
My question is... how long do they keep it? If they were to drop it after say, a few hours... even a few days... I'd consider it a dangerously abuseable practice but little worse. If they keep it any longer than that, it's a few steps shy of a domain hijack.
Seriously, I think it's just meant to be a service, but I don't see how it offers any kind of service if they allow others to waltz in and register these names themselves (which it sounds like they do, judging from posts on DomainState).
Do not confuse "Freedom of Choice" with "Free Will".
...about domains being tasted by spammers etc. that then would try to sell them to you at inflated costs?
In some ways this is a lot better, so if I have an idea for a domain, go register it at NSI, get sidetracked, go back the next day, the domain would still be available and not stolen by somebody sniffing the whois traffic etc.
As long as network solutions is upfront with this practice I think it could definitely be spun as a positive vs a negative (check a domain here and you can be sure that you'll be able to register it for up to 5 days after, instead of risking it being stolen or held for ransom).
-- the cake is a lie
I think the rationale behind this isn't entirely malicious. Consider the fact that domains are valuable property. If you were in the process of buying a domain, and had to take the time to fill our user information, credit card information and all of the textboxes that they make you fill out (particularly if you are a first time user), there is a good chance that someone from another registrar could snatch the domain out from under you simply because they were a faster typer, or had previously registered. In this way, if you do a WHOIS search with NSI, the name is locked for a short time to allow you to complete your transaction, and to disallow anyone else who may be following in your tracks to buy you your name before you can.
It makes sense, and I'm frankly surprised that no one hasn't noticed this before. I for one am glad that someone peeking over my shoulder can buy a domain from their iPhone before I can finish clicking "buy".
"A true friend stabs you in the front." -Oscar Wilde
Just looked up Network-solutions-antitrust-violation-demo.com. and Network Solutions registered it.
Time for ICANN to issue a policy under the registrar agreement to enforce section 3.7.9: "Registrar shall abide by any ICANN adopted specifications or policies prohibiting or restricting warehousing of or speculation in domain names by registrars."
True. However using scripts to keep NSI grabbing a large proportion of the domain space will cause all the cut rate registrars to scream bloody murder because their potential clients can't register anything because the scripts have dDOSed the domain space.
Which, might in turn make the vile practice of "domain tasting" (which benefits NOBODY but scammers) to be banned.
In perl, you could do it in one line with a haiku poem.
Sure, but nobody could read it.
That would be believeable, if they didn't immediately throw up a "This domain is available" page. If they're protecting the person who searched for it, why are they offering it to sell to everyone else?
Considering that most people check a few then register the one they like best out of those available it's detrimental to business to make those people wait four days, isn't it? The frontrunners would be more likely to script up a batch every day of the results from four days ago than the individuals would be to come back and register something NSI took off the available list.
It's also poor practice for NSI to keep me from searching on NSI then deciding to register with GoDaddy, Register.com, Dotster, or SRSPlus. That's especially true since I have an SRSPlus domain reseller account but hate their domain availability checking interface, and SRSPlus is owned by NSI. Perhaps I should resell for someone else instead, and move all my existing domains. I might on principal.
So, this does nothing to protect you from having your domain registered out from under you provided the other person uses NetSol. The only one it protects is NetSol from having you decide to register it elsewhere with a registrar who doesn't charge NetSol's ripoff price. It's a "feature" solely to benefit NetSol at the EXPENSE of everyone else. Slimy fuckers that they have always been.
This space available.
So what you're saying is that in addition to the bot that one guy made to autoquery these domains, we should also make bots to give them heavy traffic for the next few days?
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Drink deeply or not at all."
My problem with this is, regardless of NSI's intentions in registering the domain in the first place, when they release the domain after four days it is going to get snagged by another domain taster. Companies such as Snapnames.com operate by analysing which domains are being deleted from the whois.
The act of dropping a domain alone is enough to ensure that you won't get near it.
Oh, because you do it, it's ok then?
What if I don't want to buy the domain from you after I've searched for it?
On the contrary, Network Solutions is effectively monetizing the domains by forcing buyers to purchase them at Network Solutions' inflated prices.
Furthermore, this concept of protection would only make sense if you thought consumers were searching for a domain both on Network Solutions' lookup system and on that of an another unethical competitor. But why would consumers do that? One lookup is sufficient, and by definition, you know that one lookup occurred on your site, so it's already unlikely that a competitor will have the opportunity. The notion that you're protecting anyone doesn't wash.
But since I can buy them cheaper elsewhere, that means that you are precisely "monetizing them and then selling them at inflated prices".
So basically....don't use NSI for domain lookups. Use someone else. Maybe a company that won't try to screw you.
--
Oh brother! Another wildcard DNS server (not even RFC compliant, it returns a CNAME for every query, with no glue and no SOA, even when asked explicitly). These domains are parked on ns1. and ns2.reserveddomainname.com. All a spammer needs to do is search NSI for a domain, and it begins to resolve and can be used to spam.
The following domains are installed on my anti-spam relays' caching nameservers as empty stub zones. It prevents my anti-spam relays from resolving any domains hosted on nameservers that live in these zones. It accounts for a very large percentage of blocked spam on my systems, and I recommend mail admins start blocking domains hosted on wildcard DNS servers. It's quick, easy, painless, and your content filter will thank you for easing its workload (if it could talk and had emotions, that is).
cheap-dns-host.com
domainservice.com
fastpark.net
namesdiscount24.net
name-services.com
names-service.com
parked.com
parkingsave.net
reserveddomainname.com
versans1.com
versans2.com
versans3.com
versans4.com
versans.com
Edith Keeler Must Die
"when they're up for renewal we're moving them to a different registrar."
ARRRGH! NO! If you put it off "until it's up for renewal", you will be told with a sneer that "We don't allow transfers within six (days|weeks|months) of expiration. If you don't resub with us for another year, you can't transfer it -- AND our Domain Squatter Facilitation Dept. guarantees you will lose the domain."
You do not lose a penny by transferring it right now, as the new registrar will give you full credit for the time remaining at NSI. MOVE IT NOW! NOW!! NOW!!!
"Ain't no right way to do a wrong thing."