Network Solutions has forced millions of people to buy Internet domain names from them instead of cheaper competitors through a scheme that's netted the firm millions of dollars, a federal class action lawsuit filed today by Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP states. ICANN, whose policies facilitate the scheme, is also named in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California.
The suit alleges that Network Solutions engaged in front running and made millions from the activity. The suit apparently also names ICANN. I wonder if those characters in ICANN who claimed that front running didn't exist are happy now.
Forbes Article on Network Solutions class action lawsuit [forbes.com]
Regards...jmcc
[edited by: engine at 8:03 am (utc) on Feb. 27, 2008]
[edit reason] added quote [/edit]
didn't take long for this to come about
I've registered one of the domain names with them in 1999, and paid 34.95 for it for a while. A month ago I decided to move away from them. I called to initiate the transfer and was informed that it would take a day or two and was tolled that a service rep will be contacting me to confirm. Next Day got a phone call, spoke with the nice lady. Paid 35 bucks and extended the registration for the next 4 years - at $8.75 per year.
Ye, I know, I could of saved a whooping 7.04 bucks if transferred to GG on the current promo they run, but that would take an extra 2-3 hours of my attention to the subject.
In addition to never recommending anyone to N.S., they now get to hear this little anecdote.
There is a lot of murky business surrounding domains. It needs effective regulation that allows honest people and businesses to buy and own names in a reasonable way.
When she comes back what she'd done was call the client and literally bullied her into doing a renewal.
This has the smell of "corporate desperation" on it. The lock must have been triggered by the change in dns info. A cheap trick to hang on to a registration.
How long ago was this?
DOES NOT have to be just DNS Info, any change in WHOIS would flip it. They openly state that when someone tries to change it.
Domain front running, Domain tasting, Buying millions of names for Ads, DROA (and similar organisations) deceiving name owners... The list goes on.There is a lot of murky business surrounding domains. It needs effective regulation that allows honest people and businesses to buy and own names in a reasonable way.
I put that part in bold...
Not so sure "buying millions of domains for ads" is a murky business practice at all.
If someone purchases a domain without breaking any laws, I don't think there needs to be regulation to tell them what to do with it.
I don't want some court telling me what I can do with my domain. If I want to put ads on it or if I want to develop it is my business.
The other stuff (front running, tasting, droa), I totally agree are shady en devours, but just buying domains is a legitimate business model. Whether it's 1 or 1,000,000.
How long ago was this?
December 2007. Yeah, she had lost her login, we had just gone through the process of getting her a new login and the contact info had changed, which is why it was locked. That part we understood, was trying to resolve other issues with the phone call.
p/g
P.S. This company lost millions of dollars by failing to offer competitive prices years ago. It used to have ridiculous hoops to jump through to transfer out. Evil prices, too.
