Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy

From: Witchy <witchy_at_binarydinosaurs.co.uk>
Date: Thu Jan 8 15:54:25 2004

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org
> [mailto:cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Patrick Rigney
> Sent: 08 January 2004 21:15
> To: cctalk_at_classiccmp.org
> Subject: OT: Network Solutions Threatens Your Privacy
>
>
> I'm a little steamed. I just received an email from Network Solutions
> offering me a valuable new service: protection of my domain registration
> information from spammers. For the cost of just $5, my WHOIS contact
> information will be hidden so it can't be scraped by spammers and doesn't
> appear in the lists and exports they routinely create from the whois
> databases.

That's bollocks, or at least it is here in the UK. Here's the info from my
own domain registry:

"The UK registry, Nominet, allows you to request that your personal contact
details remain private and are not revealed on the whois server. If you wish
to keep you contact details private, please select 'private' from the drop
down list below, else select 'public'."

No fee involved and that's per user, ie me, so I don't have to tell Nominet
to keep my details private for every domain I own. Unless things are
completely different in the US that smacks of extortion.

> Second, NSI claims on the "product" information for this "service" that
> "ICANN requires this personal information to be available for anybody to
> view on the web." If that is the case, then how is even possible for them
> to charge me to not make my personal information public.

Nope. That's kaka. It's up to the domain owner whether they're public or
not, at least over here anyway.

> Am I being unreasonable about this?

Sounds like Verisign type behaviour to me......take advantage of lesser
skilled people's knowledge to get money from them for something that should
be free.

cheers

--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
Received on Thu Jan 08 2004 - 15:54:25 GMT

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