Network Solutions demonstrates, once and for all, that they are evil

[jducoeur]

Important note for those in the Internet biz: Network Solutions is now tracking any name you search on, *and immediately registering that name out from under you*. Basically, if you search for a domain name at their site, they will steal the domain so that you have no choice but to register it with them if you want it immediately.

Far as I'm concerned, this goes beyond unethical, to downright despicable. If you're still using their services for anything, I encourage moving elsewhere. A company that pulls these kinds of underhanded tactics isn't to be trusted for anything...

ETA: Ars Technica has a more nuanced article on the subject, including Network Solutions' side. I'm still not impressed: this is, at *best*, an incredibly ham-handed solution to a real problem, and at worst post-hoc rationalization...

Comments

[siderea]

Huh. I've always suspected this, which is why I'm circumspect about where I search.

Interesting how "front running" has just hit the news as the name for a crime... in an election year.

Free association of the process problem

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Right, so, why are the brokers allowed to own the intangible they broker? That's the mistake right there. Intangible goods don't need warehouses, and have no costs associated with early reservation; they must be treated differently than tangibles, where a broker who also buys is called a merchant.

...tries to come up with a nice analogy to some other product...

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that NSI is backing off under intense pressure.

And while folks probably remember, I note that NSI is spun off registrar business from Verisign, which took over NSI when it was the registry/registrar for .com, .net, and .org. So we've come a long way to be evil again.

[dryfoo.livejournal.com]

Seems to me that the solution is built into the problem. Do they use some kind of captcha thingie when you do your domain name searches? If not, build a bot that searches on every random string, and force them to filter or just give up.

Hey guys, could you please tell me about the availability of...

a.com
b.com
c.com
...
z.com
aa.com
ab.com
...
zz.com
aaa.com
...
ibl.com
ibm.com
ibn.com
...
cokd.com
coke.com
cokf.com
...
pepsg.com
pepsi.com
pepsj.com
...
mcdonaldr.com
mcdonalds.com
mcdonaldt.com
...
et cetera.

[serakit.livejournal.com]

And you can't just wait the four days and buy it from another service provider, why?

[jducoeur]

Four days is a *long* time in business. It's not unusual to have a lot of people sitting and waiting to do a lot of stuff until that's nailed down; costing hundreds of dollars would be common, and thousands not unusual. When you have lots of people whose operational costs run $50-100/hour waiting for confirmation of the domain name before they can build and write things, that adds up fast.

So NS' gamble (correctly in most cases, I'd bet) is that this particular blackmail will cause nearly all companies to buy from them instead of waiting that week. It's just plain sleazy, especially if it's not *very* clearly disclosed before you make the search. They usually make a big deal about the search being free and easy -- it's not so "free" if it is effectively locking you into a contract that'll last years. Basically, it's bait-and-switch...