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Network Solutions Advertises On Your Sub-Domains
Wowsers writes "The Register reports that customers have found that their defunct or forgotten-about sub-domains have been taken over by Network Solutions to send users to ad pages. By digging through a 59K-word user agreement, you can find the following text: 'You also agree that any domain name directory, sub-directory, file name or path (e.g.) that does not resolve to an active web page on your Web site being hosted by Network Solutions, may be used by Network Solutions to place a "parking" page, "under construction" page, or other temporary page that may include promotions and advertisements for, and links to, Network Solutions' Web site...'" TechCrunch first brought this NetSol practice to light, and Ars explained how to opt out of it if you host there.
Is that registrars have don't care who has a domain. They will happily forget to send you an email and have your domain expire and sell it to a spammer.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
Switch to another provider. Vote with your feet.
The only problem with geeky nerds is they are probably very smelly ones.
I know mine are...
opt out. opt... out... from now, I am going to boycott any company that does anything "opt out" at all. I encourage all of you to join me.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Having a domain registered with them since 1999, I received a renewal notice... wanting $35.99 to renew for a year. When I called to tell them what an absurd price that was, they said well that's just their regular price, and they would have someone call me back about maybe getting a lower price. I've always hated marketing tactics like that, so I am of course just transferring it to be registered elsewhere. I highly recommend not using Network Solutions as your domain registrar, just based on my own experience with them.
I've known about this for at least 6 months. Stumble off the beaten path on the net, and you'll find all sorts of weird and wacky things are going on. I'm not talking about site content, either...
Are people really not aware that this crap is commonplace with hosting facilities and domain registrars?
So, does that mean that if you register a domain through Network Solutions but have it hosted somewhere else (even your own hardware), they can usurp control over the domain and put this crap out there?
Layne
Does anyone even bother with the likes of GoDaddy and Network Solutions for their hosting services?
I have worked with a couple of fantastic hosting providers, all of which have excellent service, great pricing and knowledgeable people on their phone support who actually get work done.
www.dayanahost.com
http://luxsci.com
This is a very bad thing. When this happens to me when I browse, it makes me do a double take and try to figure out how I goofed up the URL and ended at a squatters site.
A good one here would probably be to add a catchall that redirects everything to 'fuckoffnetworksolutions.yourdomain.whatever' where they can put all the advertisements they want..
Just let that one give a 404, and then NetSol takes over from there.
Has anyone tried something along these lines yet?
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
They could make this agreeable to domain owners by making it opt-in and offering a cut of the profits to the domain owner.
Execute? [Y/N] _
So we have an article about a form of spamming. You reply to this ... by spamming your hosting service. Slashdot isn't your free Classifieds so fuck off, asshole.
Anyone who has ever said they don't like spam and then buys web hosting from this jerkoff is a fucking hypocrite. End of story.
ICANN is the root problem here, and in many other issues. Specifically, ICANNs complete lack oversight over registrars. This in itself would not be so bad, but coupled with ICANN's refusal to consider behavior and ethics when accrediting registrars. Incidents like this are eroding peoples faith in the current system, and if it goes on like this other countries will have a very substantial case for removing internet control from US hands.
Ultimately, internet registrars need to have a code of ethics, which they can be held to account over. Some people might call this woolly thinking. However doctors, engineers and yes, even lawyers and estate agents, have codes of practice that they are supposed to abide by and can in theory be held to account over. Registrars need only amass monopolies of scale and pay off ICANN with cold hard cash. Naturally, such a system attracts the most unscrupulous type of practices.
Only two things can break the net as it currently stands. ICANN, and the telecoms. The latter is dubious. If this mismanagement continues ICANN could literally bring about its own demise, and possibly the free internet along with it.
May the Maths Be with you!
This can happen when you use their hosting services
Unless you work at an ISP, I would disagree.
It is not Goatse.
Run along now sonny. Your mother/sister is calling you.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
If someone signs-on with Network Solutions, it's par for the course. It's just what they do, from domain "tasting", to putting holds on domains people search on, to sending out misleading renewal notices, to other highly questionable practices, they're still acting like they act like they're still the registrar monopoly. Until ICANN decides to smack them down, they'll continue to push the limits.
It's almost like they hold meetings to decide which abusive or sleazy practice they'll see how long they can get away with each month.
I had to renew my domain with Network Solutions before they would LET ME transfer it, because once they sent that renewal notice they put it in "hold" status... even though it had 3 weeks left. Tucows were great about it and comped me an extra year for the year that Network Solutions forced me to re-up for.
they offer a revenue sharing of sorts...giving you a tiny cut of any click payments from ads lodged on your parked pages. But I think its a scam unless you actually set up tons of parking because you pay godaddy a $4/month fee to join this plan. To date I have made exactly zero money back because I did not specifically set up ads on my "under construction" pages. Its just godaddy taking unearned money out of my pocket.
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
1 and 1 does it too!
Network Solutions user agreement - ~59,000 words
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - 76,944 words
no comments...
I can't call that English
It's a shame that NS has to be watched like a hawk, but they're proven in the past that they'll stretch their agreements to their edge. Of course no one else does this, right? There are the honorable, and the dishonorable organizations and it's getting more difficult to tell them apart. My take of NS (and I left them long ago, but my friends deal with their madness) is that they'll continue to push the edges to gain revenue at the expense of perceived honor. They remind me of telcos in this regard.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Don't use Network Solutions for anything, EVER
Especially don't use them as a whois service because they will place a hold on any domain you look up that isn't owned and force you to buy it through them unless you just wait a week and then the hold is taken off. My Boss did this and I told him never to do it again. Network Solutions charges more for everything and their customer service and level of service on products is WORSE. So why pay more if you aren't getting anything in return. Just stop using Network Solutions and put them out of business once and for all.
I've been reading about the evils of Network Solutions and GoDaddy and the like. I was wondering if anyone had any alternatives to recommend for anyone looking for a decent registrar?
Thanks in advance.
...since you are going to give me the ad revenues, right guys? I paid for the domain so it's my money right? What? You're not? And you practice front-running on my domain availability look ups? And you charge me 3x the national rate for registrations? Oh, wait, is your business model based on enantiodroma ? Because you're doing a very good job of making yourself extinct.
People need to realize that there's something unethical about long and complex user agreements, and stop doing business with companies that use them. A good company will provide a simple service and do it well. It won't be easy, because most companies have long and complex user agreements, but this is a shift that needs to happen eventually.
I took over management of a client's domain that was hosted by Network Solutions, and they are by far the *worst* registrar I have ever had to deal with. Their menus are intentionally misleading in order to try to sell the customer more services, and they employ draconian policies to try to prevent you from leaving.
There are no magic 404s here.
When you set up your DNS with Network Solutions, a wildcard DNS entry is created. It defaults to an ad page (just like every other DNS record with them does).
At that point you have 2 options:
While it might not be the most feel-good thing Network Solutions could do with your DNS, don't attribute to their malice what is easily attributed to user laziness.
Why do I feel like I'm on Trolldot today?
Disclosure: I have 1 domain with Network Solutions and 6 with GoDaddy
I've noticed they've parked some of my empty domains and subdomains with sedo completely and utterly without my permission.
Whilst I have parked a specific domain with sedo in the past for a very short time I most certainly have never accepted to have anything else parked with them and I'm the type of person that does actually read contractual agreements for these sort of things nowadays due to the constant abuse of customers and their rights via hidden clauses in everything ranging from ISP contracts to MMO contracts nowadays.
And this is why I run my own DNS... I can point my subdomains wherever I want, unless they hijack or intercept DNS queries.
I'm not with them, I use pairnic, but would my registrar still be able to do that if my server is it's own DNS and holds the master zones for my domains?
Seriously, there should be a word limit on the amount of legalese you can agree to in a single action, or for a single service.
Bonus if we can make it legally required that every contract have a human-readable summary, similar to the Creative Commons ones. Here's their summary of the GPLv2.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Mods, come on. That was a classic troll! I thought maybe I would be forgiven for trolling a spammer, but at least mod me correctly. Here's a hint: this comment is "Off Topic" and to a lesser extent "Redundant." (Who isn't tired of people bitching about mods?)
Fuck I am in a weird mood today.
So Network Solutions sucks, and I'm sensing some hate for GoDaddy, too. I've always used namecheap.com (don't even remember how I got referred to them) but have never had a problem. Prices seemed decent, the interface seemed alright for the handful of times I needed to use it, and I've never had a problem renewing or anything. I've always gotten reminder emails starting a couple months before expiration.
Is there something I'm missing?
The money they make I'm sure is shared with the site owner. That would only be fair since they are banking off that person's site.
Of course when has netsol every been fair?
This news story is lame. At least, the presentation of it here. It's worded to make people think this is a registrar-business decision. Like they are somehow fucking with DNS standards.
This is if you host your site on their web servers. Be intelligent and learn to seperate their registrar business from their hosting business. A lot of vhosting providers do funny stuff with 404's and such.
http://omgwtfbbq.cnn.com/ isn't suddenly going to start being a Verisign ad page. Seeming to imply that's the case is slashdot front-page flaimbait.
Par for the course I suppose...
Netsol squatted on a domain after I searched for it on their site. Oops. My bad. Next day they'd registered it so that they were the only ones to sell it.
Linux - because it doesn't leave that Steve Ballmer aftertaste.
Shweeeeeew! Someone has a crapatitude today :)
Is everyone aware that the second ingredient in wholesome cheerios has been 'Modified Food Starch' for quite a few years now?
I want the original formula back. They one they used 30 years ago when I was a kid!!!!!!
I am trying to figure out how to reclaim an expired domain. LeasedDomains snatched it up and parked it at GoDaddy but their registration just expired at the beginning of the month. However, I still can't register it - though I am being offered 'backorder' options. WTF? it expired already!
ever want to host with those bandits? It'd be like hosting with Microsoft only worse.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
all your sub-domain are belong to us.
alias possession='chmod 666 satan && ls
"Pretty sad that two different sites with "Tech" in the name and the Slashdot readership haven't managed to figure out this trickery yet. There are no magic 404s here."
On the contrary, I think those articles, and most comments here, get it right. What is being said in the articles or here that you disagree with?
"When you set up your DNS with Network Solutions, a wildcard DNS entry is created. It defaults to an ad page (just like every other DNS record with them does).
That's exactly what I've understood from reading the articles and the /. discussion. And that appears to be what people are complaining about. It shouldn't default to an ad page, it should default to a 404.
"While it might not be the most feel-good thing Network Solutions could do with your DNS, don't attribute to their malice what is easily attributed to user laziness."
Isn't the point of the article and the /. comments? That this is "not the most feel-good thing", that it is in fact "a feel-bad thing", and that users SHOULDN'T HAVE to opt out of something that most wouldn't turn on in the first place?
Someone goes to my domain, digs into the URL structure, and through their bad typing or mine and unknowing to me, gets a page full of ads on my domain. This might be allowed under the TOS, but that doesn't mean that the customer shouldn't be rightly upset about that stupid provision being in the TOS to begin with.
And to bring your quote around to its original source, I won't attribute this action to NetSol's malice, but I will attribute it to NetSol's incompetence, and lack of consideration in thinking of how their customers might react. They're not acting with ill-will, but with bad business judgment. Maybe that's better, but not by much.
Scumbags, pure scumbags
Hey -- neat plan -- FTP in, browse for the pages you didn't create yourself, then modify them to a ten-second-delayed redirect. Display, "Network Solutions wishes to offer you a bonus for your business." After the ten-second delay, the redirect takes the hapless web user to a goatse page.
That should bring them lots of business.
You can image my surprise when I found a parking page on my www.fairycompany.com site pointing to my competitors. I was flabergasted. I have been in shock about this for about a month and hadn't decided how to pursue it. I just neglected my site for a time after my wife passed away. This wasn't a subdomain either. This was a second level domain that was registered at Network Solutions, and for many years I served it from my back room using an A record set with the Advanced DNS tools at Network Solutions. I am really pissed off about this. I wouldn't be able to explain this to my wife were she still here.
It takes 60 days for an expired domain to re-enter the available pool. At the moment, it's in "pendingRelease" state, which means that the person that lost it has 60 days to recover it if they want it (at a cost of $300 or so) otherwise it can be registered by anyone.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
Except that's not at all how it works...
The subdomains are pointed at their servers, not yours, which you (theoretically) don't have access to.
"The cup is in turn designed for holding hot or cold liquids, and has an open rim and closed base." --US Patent #5425497