Fraud - Hostway

[gsh]

I am virtually certain that internet domain companies HOSTWAY and BelgiumDomains have been somehow fraudulently involved in an issue of my name registrations. I'm convinced that my registration was monitored or my searches and I have been swindled me out of my best name. The name showed on my portfolio with HOSTWAY for 2 weeks - only to be told yesterday that another group had registered it, and "HOSTWAY lost the race to register" it on my behalf. The whois database shows that it all happened on the same night in november. I have spent considerable time and money compiling a database to market the premium name that has disappeared from my account.
Does anybody know what I should do?

 

[MerlinK]

Was this a new registration, or a domain you transferred to hostway?

 

[jasdon11]

Do you have an email trail - anything date-stamped from them confirming your order, receiving funds from you, that kind of thing?

 

[gsh]

Guys, I have the email thread - receipt from the 28th November when I got the name and it's .info version. It was showing in my hostway account right up until yesterday. Thanks for responding. Any ideas?

ps, in answer to an earlier question - it was a new registration.

 

[Steen]

Is it illegal to monitor WHOIS searches and register names based on those searches?

 

[Dave Zan]

Is it illegal to monitor WHOIS searches and register names based on those searches?

That's a good question. Unfortunately it doesn't have an easy answer.

 

[MerlinK]

It's not illegal, and in fact, it has been noted as common practice recently. I believe GoDaddy also sells their WHOIS queries.

 

[Togoodhlth]

If it's not illegal it is certainly unethical.

 

[Dave Zan]

If it's not illegal it is certainly unethical.

I happen to know of one software that potentially allows me to see searches
in a registrar's WHOIS server. Will it be unethical if I use that, see a couple of
domain names I fancy, and register 1 or 2 without you knowing what my intent
is?

Then again, whether something is ethical or not depends on what side of the
fence you choose to be on. To each his or her own.

 

[stew2yk]

Very interesting. I have compilied a strong 100+ list and was planning on registering with godaddy.com. I had searched godaddy and added about 20 names to buy when my ISP went down. 2 days later I went to buy them and 12 had already been bought. More than coincedince!

 

[Togoodhlth]

I happen to know of one software that potentially allows me to see searches
in a registrar's WHOIS server. Will it be unethical if I use that, see a couple of
domain names I fancy, and register 1 or 2 without you knowing what my intent
is?

Then again, whether something is ethical or not depends on what side of the
fence you choose to be on. To each his or her own.

Whether I know what you are doing or not has no bearing on whether or not it is ethical. Registering 1 or 1000 doesn't either.

I have two thoughts on this matter.
If in fact a registrar, for the sake of argument, is realtime tracking whois searches so they may register checked names before the person querying the whois database then that is shady as hell and unethical.

I have less of a problem with a registrar compiling a list of domains checked and making them available to a third party after say 30 days ONLY if they clearly state this on their website.

 

[jasdon11]

Guys, I have the email thread - receipt from the 28th November when I got the name and it's .info version. It was showing in my hostway account right up until yesterday. Thanks for responding. Any ideas?

ps, in answer to an earlier question - it was a new registration.

gsh - I had a similar issue a few weeks ago with 123-reg in the UK, but over a shorter timescale.

I reg'd a name with them approx 10AM. They sent a receipt for the transaction almost immediately.

17:30 I checked Nominets whois (it was a co.uk) and it still showed available. I tried to get through to 123-reg but it was after office hours and just got a recorded message, so I sent an email.

Next morning I went back to whois hoping the details had been updated, only to find it reg'd to someone else.

There were several hours between when 123-reg took my money and confirmed my order, to when the name got reg'd by the other party.

The case is being pursued by Trading Standards. They did not fulfil their obligation as stated in their TOS to do everything possible to fulfil the order or to inform me of a potential delay / problem.

 

[zojila]

I stopped using using GODADDY to research new names. I believe there are other registrars who do the same. Thieving bastards.

I cannot count how often it happened to me and I lost some prime names only to be registered by some one hiding with private reg. (OK, as a note of warning : Within seconds of making a query).

It is about time, they are accounted for. This is pure thievery.

 

[gsh]

I should say here, that I'm not charging Hostway with perpetrating fraud. But they are obviously involved - as being my registrar in this instance - with the unfair practice that's resulted in BelgiumDomains taking my brainchild, an idea that I also acted upon in good faith. Why isn't Hostway going to bat for me on this? I'm their customer after all. I'm almost more upset with them, than with the highjackers of the anme. Anyway, I just want to clarify the title of this thread.

 

[jberryhill]

as being my registrar in this instance

Hostway is not, per se, a registrar.

http://www.help.hostway.com/documents/faq_domainnameregs.htm#question11

What is a registrar? Who is ICANN?
A registrar is a company that has been licensed by ICANN to register domain names for the public. Hostway currently works with AAAQ and DomainPeopel, ICANN-accredited registrars, to process domain name registrations.

ICANN stands for The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It is a non-profit organization composed of various stakeholders in the Internet space and governs domain name registrations.


Who are AAAQ and DomainPeople?
AAAQ and DomainPeople are the domain name registrars Hostway has partnered with to process domain name registrations. On the Whois record for your domain name, AAAQ or DomainPeople will be listed as the domain name registrar. In particular, DomainPeople is the registrar for .info, .pro, and .us domain names.

A lot of synchronization issues can arise when you are trying to register a domain name through an entity which is not, itself, a registrar. They may queue registration requests for later processing, or they may otherwise not have live access to the registry.

Couple that with the potential of spyware or other information leaks, such as perhaps entering the key term into various search engines, and it may have been an action of your own which was picked up by Belgiumdomains as part of a domain-tasting input feed. Your subsequent visits to the page may have been enough traffic for Belgiumdomains' system to decide to keep the name for the full term.

Whatever you do, stop visiting the domain name.

Everyone should be using adaware/spybot/whatever to check their systems on a regular basis, and shouldn't be using whatever flavor of "gee-whiz toolbar" that someone wants to install as a browser add-on.

 

[Jacksplat]

You make some great points jberryhill.

I've checked on names in groups and took a few days to think it over only to come back and see them all regged. I knew of the possibilities but better to think in some cases and lose a few than to reg every name on a dime.

Jack

 

[jberryhill]

Is it illegal to monitor WHOIS searches and register names based on those searches?

"Monitor" how?

Can I sneak into your house and watch over your shoulder as you type? No, that would be illegal.

Can I run a website and have a search box that says, "Hey, check domain availability here" and then collect information about what people type into my website? Of course I can.

Here is a website which purports to be an "internet confessional". You may type in a description of your sins and click "submit":

http://www.iconfessional.com/Confess.php

You think for one nanosecond that the person running that site owes you some sort of confidentiality in data you send to him? Why?

 

[Dave Zan]

http://www.iconfessional.com/Confess.php

Good thing that site doesn't ask you to pray 20 Hail Marys.

My own blog has a nifty feature which allows me to see what terms are being
searched for in there. If I can use that data any way I see fit, then imagine
Google and the other search engines as well.

Some people just develop incredibly demanding expectations, some of which
aren't realistic or have no factual basis except those in their minds.

Oh well...