Righthaven.com Taken Down for Invalid Whois(domainnamenews.com)
domainnamenews.com
Righthaven.com Taken Down for Invalid Whois
http://www.domainnamenews.com/legal-issues/righthavencom-invalid-whois/9232
5 comments
>Having to pay £5 (or whatever it is now) to hide your personal information on your domain is truly evil.
Eh, when the domain name system was set up, it was designed with businesses and academics in mind. People who don't expect or want to be anonymous. The idea was that individuals would get services through a provider's domain, so the whole system assumes less privacy than one would expect out of a product one uses to run one's own email.
Really, I would personally be happy to give my customers a discount if they were willing to post contact info publicly. I mean, I wouldn't force the issue, because I know a lot of my customers really do want privacy, but my costs for hosting someone who says "hey, this is who I am, send abuse complaints to me" through rwhois on the IP or the like, and who handles those complaints without my help are lower than my costs otherwise.
I mean, I certainly understand and think it's okay that some people want to be anonymous, but you need to understand that you put yourself in a more expensive group by wanting that anonymity.
Now, is that 5 pounds per customer worth of 'more expensive' for a domain registrar? probably not. Abuse expenses are a little like insurance... 99% of your customers won't get any complaints, or the complaints they get will be resolved painlessly, but a few will be quite painful and eat a lot of time and money. (unless you take the 'kick off everyone who complains' approach.)
I haven't implemented such a 'discount for using your own realname and your own abuse contact' yet, in part because I'm afraid customers will see it as anti-privacy, so I'm still feeling out the idea, I'm just saying, there is an economic justification for it.
Eh, when the domain name system was set up, it was designed with businesses and academics in mind. People who don't expect or want to be anonymous. The idea was that individuals would get services through a provider's domain, so the whole system assumes less privacy than one would expect out of a product one uses to run one's own email.
Really, I would personally be happy to give my customers a discount if they were willing to post contact info publicly. I mean, I wouldn't force the issue, because I know a lot of my customers really do want privacy, but my costs for hosting someone who says "hey, this is who I am, send abuse complaints to me" through rwhois on the IP or the like, and who handles those complaints without my help are lower than my costs otherwise.
I mean, I certainly understand and think it's okay that some people want to be anonymous, but you need to understand that you put yourself in a more expensive group by wanting that anonymity.
Now, is that 5 pounds per customer worth of 'more expensive' for a domain registrar? probably not. Abuse expenses are a little like insurance... 99% of your customers won't get any complaints, or the complaints they get will be resolved painlessly, but a few will be quite painful and eat a lot of time and money. (unless you take the 'kick off everyone who complains' approach.)
I haven't implemented such a 'discount for using your own realname and your own abuse contact' yet, in part because I'm afraid customers will see it as anti-privacy, so I'm still feeling out the idea, I'm just saying, there is an economic justification for it.
How does whois privacy actually work?
and can we make a safe one that doesn't cost more than a few cents per name per year?
and can we make a safe one that doesn't cost more than a few cents per name per year?
As much as RightHaven might have been asshats, this sort of precedent concerns me.. I've had domain information that has been years out of date before I realized it.
I wonder what degree of "correctness" they need.. if I leave off an apartment number, is that bad enough? If I renew for 3 years and don't bother updating in there, can I get shut down?
I wonder what degree of "correctness" they need.. if I leave off an apartment number, is that bad enough? If I renew for 3 years and don't bother updating in there, can I get shut down?
Worry about your e-mail address and keep it functional and responsive. They don't care about an apartment number.
But technically an apartment number being wrong is also "invalid whois information." If it's just selective enforcement, that's a whole other pain.
The apartment analogy is .. erm "apt". Why do we effectively rent domains, and not really own them?
Uh oh, this could be a bad sign of things to come for grey/black hat SEOs. Providing invalid WHOIS information is common practice among SEOs because it can help boost rankings when it appears like all your interlinked sites don't look like they are owned by the same person. If this is the beginning of a crackdown, there will be more drama to come.
Wonder what was invalid. E-mail bouncing, maybe?
I dont think GoDaddy would suspend a domain without repeatedly trying to contact the registrant either and if they do, time to move. Make sure the e-mail details at your registrar and on your domains actually work, respond to them, and you should be fine.
This makes a case for not having your domain registration e-mail be handled by that domain too
Last Updated on: 12-Feb-11
Administrative Contact:
Gibson, Steven [email protected]
Righthaven LLC
9960 West Cheyenne Avenue
Suite 210
Las Vegas, Nevada 89129
United States
+1.7025275900 Fax -- +1.7025275909
I dont think GoDaddy would suspend a domain without repeatedly trying to contact the registrant either and if they do, time to move. Make sure the e-mail details at your registrar and on your domains actually work, respond to them, and you should be fine.
This makes a case for not having your domain registration e-mail be handled by that domain too
But obviously Righthaven doesn't care about their domain because if I recall correctly, GoDaddy sends three notifications before they suspend your domain.