It’s been on the news. Famous tech company Apple filed an administrative dispute to grab IPhone5.com. Naturally, some people aren’t happy about this. Namely, the IPhone5.com domain owners themselves, currently using the domain name to run a forum. On the surface, it looks “harmless”. The domain name’s used as a forum mainly to talk about the IPhone. Generally, fan sites, news sites, commentary sites, even parody or gripe (“sucks”) sites can be protected against alleged trademark infringement claims. An idea behind those is they’re mainly intended to talk about the trademark holder in some way, and not necessarily to “exploit” their trademark or commercial success. When I checked the forum, though, something rather bothered me. One thing that can strengthen any of those sites I mentioned above is if they’re non-commercial, meaning they’re not displaying any hint of commercial use whatsoever like ads. As of this writing, unfortunately the site displayed Google Adsense for…of all things…cellphones: That’s one thing a trademark holder, especially one of Apple’s caliber, can use against the domain’s registrant/s. I won’t be surprised if Apple has already taken screenshots ever since, so they won’t need mine anyway. Personally, I’m not optimistic on the IPhone5.com people winning [...]

Yup, you read it right. Family-friendly domain registrar. At least, that’s what they’re marketing themselves as. Another registrar, PurityNames.com, has joined the (highly-competitive IMHO) domain registration market. I first got a wind of them through popular domain blog TheDomains. They also linked and posted a few excerpts from PurityNames’ press release, which I’ll do the same:   PurityNames.com Founder and CEO Jim Prendergast said, “What makes PurityNames.com different is that we refuse to profit from pornography. Period. Instead of doing business with a company that profits from activities that offend you, why not do business with someone who respects your morals and beliefs?”   I got curious and checked out their site. Seems pretty straightforward except for a few things. First, they don’t list their prices. I had to search as if I’m going to register a domain name to find out they charge $15 a year for a .com, and it’s not including taxes yet. Obviously that’s expensive for some (if not many) people. Then again, what many people likely don’t know is that registrars hardly make money with domain names ever since. Another thing I rather don’t like with PurityNames’ web site is it doesn’t list what they [...]

I know my title is a rather odd question, but I felt I had to ask it. This is in light of Name.com’s recent commentary on how they handled the attack on them and their forcing out Buxon.com. Speaking of which, Buxon.com is active once again and registered at 1&1. So far I don’t see any reported attacks, so either the perpetrators decided not to (for whatever reason) or 1&1 is under attack and currently holding the line without anyone noticing. Then again, 1&1 is much bigger than Name.com. They can probably better afford resources to hold off large-scale attacks like this one, if ever. Going back, Name.com felt they had to explain how and why they did what they reluctantly did. Perhaps surprisingly, some people commented to the effect that they shouldn’t have. Your service provider is being honest, yet you’re saying they shouldn’t? On one hand, being this open has caused some people to doubt them. I think that’s to be expected, considering the situation. I understand that view. You’re paying your registrar, or any service provider, to confidently offer services that meets your needs. Then when crap like this happens, your registrar publicly explains how and why [...]

Domain registrar Name.com posted an update on the situation. They gave more details to explain things on their side. And here I thought they also hosted Buxon.com’s web site. It turns out they only managed the domain registration. So far it seems the attackers haven’t targeted fellow registrar 1&1 ever since Buxon.com moved there. Then again, they probably haven’t seen fit to since the domain name’s web site is still offline as of this writing. One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post about this is that registrars typically report large-scale attacks like this to law enforcement. However, there are cases where law enforcement tells the registrar not to reveal any information whatsoever on their investigating it afterwards. Just search online, and you’ll find few examples of people or companies doing that after reporting an incident to them. That can frustrate some people demanding answers, but there are usually more important things to do to lessen or ensure incidents like these don’t happen again. Unfortunately it’s likely to happen again since the perpetrators are beyond anyone’s physical reach. Name.com said the attack came from China, and it started soon after Buxon.com wrote about a recent political scandal going [...]

I just read online that someone’s domain name was virtually forced out by its registrar due to an attack. Whenever something like this happens, it’s not pretty. Domain registrar Name.com told their customer to move their domain name Buxon.com elsewhere because they suffered a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. That attack happens when numerous compromised computers or servers simultaneously “visit” one’s domain name or so online more times than it could reasonably handle. Think of that as like so many people jamming into your store on a Black Friday special, to the point it’s more than you and your store’s personnel are ready to handle. One can prepare as much and reasonably as they can, but there can be times where it’s just too much. From what I gathered, Buxon.com has been reporting extensively an on-going political turmoil happening in China. The domain name and its web site were managed by Name.com that time. According to Name.com’s blog:   In the early morning of Thursday, April 19th, we received a demand letter via email instructing us to disable the boxun.com domain or we would suffer a DDoS attack as a result. Shortly thereafter, our network operations team was made [...]

Sorry it’s been a while since I blogged here. Finally found some time, and got something that might be an arguably interesting read. As the headline goes, there’s a “Mann” who registered about 14,962 domain names in 24 hours. That man is Mike Mann, who’s well known in domain circles. Just click the link to the CNET article at the source below to read more about it. No doubt some of you feel strongly about the things Mr. Mann does, and that’s okay since we all tend to feel something. Feel free to share your thoughts below, or spread the word online. I’ll just be around. Source: CNET Check Out These Other Posts: The Little Known 45-Day Domain Transfer Rule Email Saying Domain Name You Want Available For $49 Woman Changes Name To Domain Name Domain Names Taken Back Due To Mistake Domain Name You Want Held By Another

For the past few years, there are various reports of U.S. law enforcement taking down certain domain names for allegedly violating U.S. law. That’s influencing enough people to move their domain names out of U.S.-based registrars, mainly thinking they’ll be safe or immune from action. If only that were true. Just recently, a domain registrar based in the Bahamas shut down over 176 domain names. According to Bahamas-based registrar Internet.bs:   After 2 months of intense investigations, domain name Registrar Internet.bs Corp. is happy to announce that it just suspended 176 pharma domains explicitly setup by unscrupulous and pretend-to-be customers trying to fool regulators and circumvent applicable pharma regulations. By providing false or inaccurate Whois details they were also in breach of ICANN policies. Furthermore fake registration details had also been used by the same malicious clan for many domain name extensions not covered by ICANN polices (.fr, .it, .uk, .us, .be, .eu, .pm, .re, .tv, .wf, .yt).   Funny name and funny extension for a domain registrar, as some people might observe. But I also notice some folks use them anyway, as long as they deliver. Looking at the list of domain names Internet.bs shut down, it’s indeed a [...]

Sorry for the rather late posting on this subject, given that others already wrote about it. I wanted to confirm a few things until I felt it was time. As many of you surely heard by now, the U.S. government seized gambling site Bodog.com in spite of it registered Vancouver-based registrar DomainClip. They also indicted its owner Calvin Ayre and his partners, who are reportedly in Canada. As reported by Forbes on why this happened:   According to the six-page indictment filed by Rosenstein, Ayre worked with Philip, Ferguson and Maloney to supervise an illegal gambling business from June 2005 to January 2012 in violation of Maryland law.   Somewhat in fairness, U.S. authorities have been after Bodog for years. They shut down their domain names back then, forcing them to move into Canada. Some people as to how it was possible for something like this to happen. I mean, we’re talking about something that was based overseas, yet how it was made possible? That’s what I’ll attempt to answer here, although others have similarly tried. One thing I’ll say is I won’t blame you if you still find it unacceptable, but – again – I’ll just try to explain [...]

Lately I’ve been seeing people “asking” about registrars who don’t auction their clients’ expired domain names. That got me curious to check. So far I found a few, although it’s not exhaustive. Not to mention the registrar in question could change their mind anytime, especially if they see that auctioning an expired domain name will benefit them. Speaking of which, that’s one reason why registrars auction expired domain names. Because of the reality that registrars hardly make money from domain registrations only nowadays, they’ve changed their business models to make up for that. One caveat before I reveal those registrars: I haven’t personally used them yet. Thus, I can’t say how their prices, their control panels, and their customer support will necessarily fare. Still, if you really want to have a look, here are the ones I found as of this post: Dreamhost Gandi.net Hostgator Misk.com Rebel.com I’m somewhat familiar with Rebel.com, having discussed a few things with one of their agents in a domain forum. I can say they’re one you can check out. There’s actually one other registrar I know who doesn’t auction expired names either: Fabulous. I didn’t include them above because they cater to people who [...]

I just found out that domain registrar NameCheap has advertised their third (I think) $1.99 offer, but the first for this year. You might have another opportunity to register or transfer a .com, .net or .org domain for just $1.99 a year. Note I said Upcoming on the title. That’s because like their previous offer, they’ll let people do that on a certain condition. Like before, they want their Facebook page to have 10,000 Likes by March 6, 2012. If it hits the 10,000 mark on or before that date, that’s when they’ll release that $1.99 coupon offer. As of this post, they’ve got about 2,066 Likes. Just click here to get to their page, then click Like. As always, feel free to share your thoughts below or spread the word online. I’ll just be around. Check Out These Other Posts: Can You Buy A Domain Name For $1.99? Domain Name Events Of 2011 Today Is Move Your Domain Day Are You Having Trouble Transferring From Go Daddy To NameCheap? Does eNom Own NameCheap?