(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick




ICANN To Start Deleting Domains With Incorrect Info

from the seems-a-bit-harsh dept

When you register a domain, you are required to give out contact information of the individual or organization that owns. Many people either leave that information blank, or put down fake information. ICANN has stated that their new policy is to start deleting such domains. Of course, I imagine this could be troublesome for someone who, say, moves and forgets to update the registration info for their domains - and then discovers they've lost their website. I don't use Network Solutions any more, but they used to make it almost impossible for you to be able to update your information. I imagine there are plenty of people who have incorrect information simply because they didn't want to go through all the hoops Network Solutions made them jump through.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Apr 24th, 2003 @ 10:04am
  • How hard was it?

    by Anonymous Coward

    I actually left my long-dead email address on one domain for 5 years, just continuing to renew at their higher rates because it was nigh impossible to change it without having an active email. I had to fax in my signature. Which I did - and it was rejected as it came from a computer fax.

    Long story short, I faxed them pages over a 16 day period, then finally gave up and spent 1 hour and 10 minutes and went through 4 managers before I got my email address updated!

    Needless to say I moved my domain after that. And made sure none of our clients ever used them again.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Apr 24th, 2003 @ 10:04am
  • SPAM

    by Oliver Wendell Jones

    I keep getting LOW MORTGATE RATES NOW! Spam from some idiot at www.n0hastlem0rtgage.com

    First off, I don't need a new mortgage.

    Second, if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't trust something that important to someone who can't spell hassle and who uses zeroes instead of the letter O in his spelling.

    I looked up the owner information for that domain and it's a Mike Stone, on Stone Road, in Stoneville CA (what an amazing coincidence!) and his phone number is 123-4567, what are the odds!?!?! I was so mad at the time that I didn't even make the connection and actually picked up the phone and started dialing 123-45... wait a second!

    I sent an e-mail to his domain registrar and asked that they pull his domain since it's obviously bogus information and it's being used for SPAM. Amazingly enough I haven't heard anything back from them... :-(

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • Jul 7th, 2003 @ 2:23pm
    • Re: SPAM

      No Registrar has the outright authority to just "pull" a domain out of commission without extensive research and comparison to the original service agreement. Some registrar's actually neglect to put a SPAM clause in their service agreement. On one note...
      If you mandate that all info needs to be verified and checked before the purchase you delay the purchase flow and people complain.
      On another note...
      If you put the information updating in the cx's and ICANN's hands, people complain.
      People as a whole need to understand that there are intricate and sensitive processes between everything. The system functions the way it is. The changes I find people proposing and impractical and fool hardy. The fact of the matter is, Businesses need to make money and Customers need to be provided a product. What someone does with that product is NOT the businesses responsibility, though, sometimes they might be kind enough to make it so. Stopping SPAM cannot be a business's MAIN drive. If you knew the domain name, you should've just blocked it.
      -Nicole-

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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