RE: [registrars] FW: Registrar Accuses VeriSign Of Predatory Marketing

["Bhavin Turakhia" <bhavin.t@directi.com>]

infact on closer examination i observe the following aspects

* The only way they can get the mailing address and contact info is from the
Whois, which means they have been harvesting Whois

* They are the only ones who can do this, since they have expiration dates
of every domain name and therefore would know exactly which domains Whois
information they should beharvesting.

Infact they also have data with respect to which companies have been
renewing their domain names regularly from the past 2-3years with other
registrars - so they can actually run one simple database query and obtain
daily a list of names expiring in 60 days from now, of those companies who
have atleast renewd their name once in the past and so are likely to renew
it again

it is obvious that being both the registry/registrar gives them quite a bit
of advantage - but isnt whois harvesting and using the data for sending
unsolicited offers against the icann agreement??

bhavin

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-registrars@dnso.org [mailto:owner-registrars@dnso.org]On
> Behalf Of Tim Ruiz
> Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2002 6:17 PM
> To: bhavin.t@directi.com
> Cc: registrars@dnso.org
> Subject: Re: [registrars] FW: Registrar Accuses VeriSign Of Predatory
> Marketing
>
>
> Exactly! There are two issues, the presentation of the piece and
> whether or
> not it is misleading, and then just how they got the data in the first
> place.
>
> They did not have our bulk whois and even though many of us get concerned
> about their close relationship with VeriSign-GRS, the registry does not
> have this information. We have never, and will never, sell or
> rent our list
> otherwise.
>
> The mail piece that I got myself at home was for three domain names that I
> registered through Go Daddy directly and have never moved, yet
> they had the
> correct expiration date AND contact info.
>
> That doesn't leave a lot of other possibilities besides mining our whois
> data. If anyone has any other theories I'd certainly be interested in
> hearing them.
>
> Tim
>
>  -------- Original Message --------
>    Subject: [registrars] FW: Registrar Accuses VeriSign Of Predatory
> Marketing
>    From: "Bhavin Turakhia" <bhavin.t@directi.com>
>    Date: Wed, March 27, 2002 9:35 pm
>    To: "Registrars@Dnso. Org" <registrars@dnso.org>
>
>    My concern is
>
>    * How are they getting the name, mailing address and expiry date of
>    these domain names??
>
>    bhavin
>
>    -----Original Message-----
>    From: all.internal-owner@lists.directi.com
>    [mailto:all.internal-owner@lists.directi.com]On Behalf Of Saurabh
>    Pande Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 2:48 PM
>    To: Internal List
>    Subject: Registrar Accuses VeriSign Of Predatory Marketing
>
>
>    Registrar Accuses VeriSign Of Predatory Marketing
>
>    by David McGuire
>
>    Go Daddy Software, an Internet address seller and Web hosting company,
>    says that addressing giant VeriSign Inc. is attempting to dupe Go
>    Daddy customers into transferring their domain name registrations to
>    VeriSign.
>
>    In a letter to its customers, Go Daddy accused VeriSign of sending out
>    domain name "renewal notices" to Go Daddy users. The fine print of the
>    direct mail notices reveals that signing and returning one of them
>    authorizes VeriSign to transfer a customer's Internet address from Go
>    Daddy to VeriSign.
>
>    "The domain expiration notices are designed so that it is not obvious
>    that the notices are from VeriSign Inc. as opposed to Go Daddy
>    Software," Go Daddy President Bob Parsons wrote in the letter.
>
>    "What it relies on is deception. It relies on the individual to be
>    unsuspecting (and) uninformed. It's a trick," Parsons told Newsbytes.
>    "To me, that's no way to do business."
>
>    Go Daddy has posted an electronic image of one of the VeriSign notices
>    - which Parsons says went out to Go Daddy customers - on its Web site
>    at http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/private_vsrn.asp?display=letter .
>
>    VeriSign spokesman Pat Burns confirmed that his company had sent out
>    the notices as a mass mailing, but said that there was nothing
>    improper about them.
>
>    "Everything we send has our name on it," Burns said. "It's a
>    competitive marketplace. We reach out to a variety of different
>    customers to make them aware of our services."
>
>    But while Parsons conceded that the VeriSign mailing did bear
>    VeriSign's corporate logo, he said the notice contained no pitch to
>    customers about why they should switch their service away from Go
>    Daddy.
>
>    Parsons said he has received notes from several Go Daddy customers who
>    thought it was a simple renewal form.
>
>    Parsons said that Go Daddy executives are still attempting to
>    determine whether they can or should take action against VeriSign over
>    the notices.
>
>    The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) -
>    which manages the Internet's addressing system and accredits Internet
>    registrars like Go Daddy and VeriSign - will look into the matter,
>    ICANN spokeswoman Mary Hewitt said today.
>
>
>
>