Network Solutions saga unravels
Posted on January 9th, 2008 by admin in Domain News | 5 Comments »
I knew there was something strange with these findings. Why would a reputable company like Network Solutions blatantly do something that could hurt their reputation in the long run. In short… they wouldn’t.
Jonathon Nevett, Vice President of Policy at Network Solutions sent domainnews the following in response to the accusations:
“I’d like to clarify what we are doing. In response to customer concerns about Domain Name Front Running (domains being registered by someone else just after they have conducted a domain name search), we have implemented a security measure to protect our customers.
The measure will kick in when a customer searches for an available domain name at our website, but decides not to purchase the name immediately after conducting the search. After the search ends, we will put the domain name on reserve. During this reservation period, the name is not active and we do not monetize the traffic on these domains. If a customer searches for the domain again during the next 4 days at networksolutions.com, the domain will be available to register. If the domain name is not purchased within 4 days, it will be released back to the registry and will be generally available for registration.
This protection measure provides our customers the opportunity to register domains they have previously searched without the fear that the name will be already taken through Front Running. You are correct that we are trying to take an arrow out of the quiver of the tasters. As you know, domain tasters are the largest Front Runners. Due to no fault of registrars, Front Runners purchase search data from Internet Service Providers and/or registries and then taste those names. Some folks may not agree with our approach, but we are trying to prevent this malicious activity from impacting our customers.”
So, from what I can understand, if you are logged into your Network Solutions account and you search for domains, they will be available for registration only to you for the next 4 days.
John
5 Responses to “Network Solutions saga unravels”
admin, January 9th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Damn, thanks for pointing that out Frank.
Had it been the case that the domain is only available to yourself for the next 4 days ( which would have been a nightmare too as folks would just go and try and register every name possible just for fun ) it would have made more sense then this.
I am sure Network Solutions are going to lose a lot of customers over this. What a stupid thing to do.
Network Solutions saga continues - read between the lines, January 9th, 2008 at 11:56 am
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Frank Michlick (DomainNameNews.com), January 9th, 2008 at 4:25 am
John,
Go and try this four yourself – the domain name is not only available for you for the next four days, but to anyone who visits the domain or looks up the domain at Network Solutions. At every other registrar the domain will show as taken, but anyone can buy it at Network Solutions.
/FM