NameScout/Domainsatcost.ca now join eNom in ID theft

[Anthony Ng]

Just got this in my mailbox:

From: "Domainsatcost.ca" <[email protected]>
To: <********@************>
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 8:41 PM
Subject: Get Your Free .Info Domain


Dear **********,

Domainsatcost.ca is always looking for better ways to serve you. We appreciate your business and are very grateful for it.

To show our appreciation, we are passing along a special registry promotion to our valued customers. We are giving you free, one-year .info domain registrations! And best of all, we have made it extremely quick and easy for you to take advantage of this offer!



Here's how it works:

We have registered available .info domain names corresponding to domain names in your account and placed them in your shopping cart.

To complete the one-year domain registrations, you simply need to log into your account and complete the shopping cart checkout. The domain is yours for one year; without charge or obligation.

The following domain names are ready for your activation:

********.info

To access your shopping cart, login to your account at
http://www.domainsatcost.ca/master/login.asp?pageredirect=fopromo.asp

Your userid is: ********
If you have forgotten your password, go here:
http://www.domainsatcost.ca/master/forgotpassword.asp



What if I don't want the domain?

If, for whatever reason, you do not want the free domain name, simply remove it from your shopping cart and the domain name will be deleted without charge or obligation.

Please note: Deleting these domains from your shopping cart means that you will have to pay for them if you eventually decide you want the domains and, like all registrations, the domain names may no longer be available when you want them.



Act now

Take advantage of this great opportunity today! This offer is only available for a limited time. You have until November 7th, 2004 to complete your free one-year registration of .info domains. Any unclaimed domains will be removed from your account after that time.


Once again, thank you for your continued support of Domainsatcost.ca.



Best regards,

Customer Service,
Domainsatcost.ca

 

[Nexus]

Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number or other identifying information, without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes.

So, has it been decided that this is a clear case of "identity theft" if registrars "automatically" reserve names for you as promotion? --That this represents criminal "fraud". I didn't read that thread very deeply. Seeing how its not in "quotes" in this thread title... anybody persuing them legally yet?

~ Nexus

 

[Bashar]

lets wait for monday and see how many millions they reg'ed for ther clients...

 

[ExpireGuy]

How can registrars be so bold to at the very least not have a little opt in email to say "look what's coming". This nauseating free dot info regging via personal whois from account holders simply must stop...someone should sue these bastards.......
.... and wake up the "think tank" at ICANN that's suppose to shield registrants from this crap. What a joke.

 

[seeker]

the joke is afiliASS. They started this dumb campaign, and with the competition in the market today, its making registrars act, well, lets just say, not logically.

 

[GeorgeK]

Things that are 'free' tend to be abused. If the price was 1 cent per registration, we'd see a more orderly market.

 

[Donny Simonton]

Things that are 'free' tend to be abused. If the price was 1 cent per registration, we'd see a more orderly market.

The reason Enom and Namescout both did this, is they wanted to park the domains and make money off of the traffic. They expect at least 30% of them to come claim the domain. And the rest of the emails will bounce or the customers won't care. Call it PURE PROFIT. And I am sure they are thanking all of the Google AdWord customers right now since that's where both Enom and Namescout are sending their parked pages.

Donny

 

[Theo]

They can do that without using the contact information of the .com owner.

It's identity theft, no doubt about it.

 

[jberryhill]

It's identity theft, no doubt about it.

RTFM

ZZZZZzzzzzz........
http://www.enom.com/help/agreement.asp

You agree that from time to time we may provide you with free or low-cost domain name(s) ("Promotional Name(s)"). If we do so, the Promotional Name(s) will be placed in the same account as your other domain name(s) and you will be listed as the registrant, though we may point the Promotional Name to IP address(es)of our choosing. If you want to assume control over the Promotional Name, including the right to transfer or push the Promotional Name or to the ability to control the DNS settings for the Promotional Name, you must pay the promotional registration fee or renewal fee, if any. If you do not want the Promotional Name, you may push the Promotional Name to our account with login ID no_free_domain_name in which case you will be removed as the registrant and we will be listed as the domain name registrant. Alternatively, you may contact us and we will delete the Promotional Name. For any name, including these Promotional Names, for which you are listed as registrant but for which you do not pay the registration or renewal fee, you agree that we may assign name servers to the domain name and point the domain name to IP address(es) designated by us until the registration or renewal fee is paid.

 

[Donny Simonton]

They can do that without using the contact information of the .com owner.

It's identity theft, no doubt about it.

You want cheap prices? Somebody has to pay! :evil: Ok. I didn't just say that did I?

Unfortunately, it's the truth.

Donny

 

[Theo]

I was referring to that other company that started this by registering the .info in the name of the owner of the .com

If that's not identity theft and impersonation, what is it?

Enom's legalese above came after the matter was exposed.

 

[Donny Simonton]

I was referring to that other company that started this by registering the .info in the name of the owner of the .com

If that's not identity theft and impersonation, what is it?

Enom's legalese above came after the matter was exposed.

I wasn't talk about us, I was talking about the two other companies mentioned in this thread. We thought about it ourselves, but decided to not attempt it! Our customers are more important to us than a quick buck.

And as everybody here knows parking domains can make some big time money! I know people making over $40k a day, but then again they have a few domains. If something like this were reported to their supplier (Google), they may consider shutting them down. I know Overture would.

Donny

 

[Anthony Ng]

http://www.enom.com/help/agreement.asp

You agree that from time to time we may provide you with free or low-cost domain name(s) ("Promotional Name(s)"). If we do so, the Promotional Name(s) will be placed in the same account as your other domain name(s) and you will be listed as the registrant, though we may point the Promotional Name to IP address(es)of our choosing ... blah blah blah ...

Another good example of those "unequal treaties".

You agree that from time to time we may abuse your rights by doing a) whatever we like, b) whenever we want, and c) however disgusting it could be. You may of course take your business elsewhere, and we don't even care a bit. Sue us if you dare, but for most of you small guys, that doesn't look like an option. ;p

 

[Theo]

I think someone has already described a real issue, after he agreed to a tm holder to ditch the .com, the tm holder notices the .info under that person's name and is now getting ready to sue!

 

[Anthony Ng]

Take advantage of this great opportunity today! This offer is only available for a limited time. You have until November 7th, 2004 to complete your free one-year registration of .info domains. Any unclaimed domains will be removed from your account after that time.

Now, after could mean any day in the next 100 years. I still see my name and contact info used WITHOUT PERMISSION in the Registrant as well as Administrative, Billing and Technical Contacts.

 

[Anthony Ng]

UPDATE: More than 3 weeks have passed since November 7th, and the status is still "active". Let me guess, these thieves have no intention of deleting those .info's.

 

[Nexus]

If registrars did not provide options like deletion and... erm, "pushing", I'd think it was a muh bigger deal. NOT HONORING a deletion request is a tremendously negative issue and should be reported. These "promotional" registrations are neither here nor there for me. The only issue I have is the aforementioned, AND the time it takes such a registrar (like eNom) to make up their mind about how to give users control (and letting people know by e-mail what's going on). Registrants have rights. I don't think its necessarily "ID theft" to set the promotional registration in motion. It IS, if there are simply NO provisions for immediately DELETING it, and there is NO attempt to INFORM registrants in an expediant manner following the actual registration (days, not weeks).

My two cents,
~ Nexus

 

[Anthony Ng]

Registrants have rights.

The question is: I'm NOT even a *willing* registrant: I was made a registrant against my will.

How about creating a free hosting account for PricewaterhouseCooper, and list them as one of my happy clients?

By the way, it's now more than 40 days since registration, and the status is active AND pointing to THEIR servers, of course.

 

[Nexus]

The question is: I'm NOT even a *willing* registrant: I was made a registrant against my will. How about creating a free hosting account for PricewaterhouseCooper, and list them as one of my happy clients?

Not really accurate, you have to admit. You WILLFULLY registered a domain name with the company, and they are "registering" you for an additional domain name of the *same string* in a different TLD, saying "bonus promotion, if you don't want it, we'll delete it". If I *never* registered a domain name with Register.com, and suddenly they registered ClownPenis.com "for" me, put my name on it as the registrant and sent me an e-mail telling me what they'd done, I'd feel upset. If instead I registered HappyFlowers.com with Register.com, and in an effort to promote a new extension they say "We've registered HappyFlowers.info for you." it seems pretty benign, imo.

By the way, it's now more than 40 days since registration, and the status is active AND pointing to THEIR servers, of course.

So, you're saying you told them to delete your promo name, and they haven't done that... or that you said you didn't want it... or...? Not sure where the issue is. Not sure registering additional strings of names I already own come across as inflammatory to me. I'd be pretty enflamed if they stamped my name on arbitrary new registrations though, even if a promo.

Recently, the McDonald's in my area has started giving you TWO apple pies when you buy one. One apple pie is $1. You buy the one, and even if you only asked for one, you'll find two in your bag. The first time I was smitten by the gal in the window, thinking with a wink, "Ok, it'll be our little secret!" Then I realized what was happening and the glow wore off. I started realizing they were giving me every reason to overeat, and I started getting annoyed. I didn't ASK for this! BUT... I could have thrown them in the trash, pushed it back in the window, driven over it with my car... but instead, I chose to eat them. Sigh. Bastids. I'm sure they know what they're doing. We don't have to like it, but it's a different step entirely to start calling it criminal.

~ Nexus

 

[ExpireGuy]

Not really accurate, you have to admit. You WILLFULLY registered a domain name with the company, and they are "registering" you for an additional domain name of the *same string* in a different TLD......We don't have to like it, but it's a different step entirely to start calling it criminal.

~ Nexus

I see your point Nex but let's face it, there's a bit more to the scenario. Using the Mcdonalds analogy.....you don't have to give personal and private information to buy an apple pie to be apart of their promotion.

IMO there are many underlying issues which are distressing about this free .info bedlam:

1. registrants personal and private data info is being used to register domains which could leave them open to unforseen accountability....
2. Registrars are showing evidence of anti competitive practices....when you register infos "on behalf of your clients" then your clients won't be registering them elsewhere. Sipence registering close to 1 million of them knows this all to well.
3. .info numbers are inflated (almost double) to 3 mill in 3 months......nice numbers for Affilias to show ICANN when they add them to their .net bid in January to ICANN. Timing of this promotion is questionable.

I don't have to like it.....but if this type of practise was going on in another industry. There'd be an inquiry at the very least.