A brilliant move by enom?

[adoptabledomains]

Okay, we know enom (though an alias registar Sipence.com) has now registered almost a million .info domains on the behalf of their customers who had domains in other TLD's. I am assuming the cost to them is nothing under the .info promo. Here is my theory why this may have been a brilliant move based on these assumptions of facts.

1. It cost them virtually nothing.
2. They are registered in a "shell" registrar company so any potential liability may be shielded from the existing enom business.
3. NSI has just seemingly successfully got ICANN to accept that by changing the registration agreement, the registrar can take control of unrenewed domains and broker/auction them technically before deletion keeping them at NSI and profiting from this move.
4. Pool.com has just announced offering basically the same service for other smaller registars if this ends up flying (goodbye WLS).
5. Affilias won't complain because they almost doubled the number of registered domains in a 3 day period.
6. This move would give enom exclusive control over 50% of all .info domains as registrar virtually forever if this new method is accepted by ICANN.
7. Enom club drop would benefit from virtually any .info drop of these 950k domains that are not renewed next year.
8. Due to scarcity of now available names, .info theoretically should be worth more now. However, this could be outweighed by 950k new registrants selling for anything over $0 and still making a profit.

Whether accidental or planned, I think enom/sipence have made what could be seen as a brilliant timing move of the free .info affilias offer.

What do you think?

(some background info)

Sipence.com
Info's at Sipence.com

[GT Web]

I am still a little in the dark about that whole Pool idea...

but heck, if the names are free, then why wouldnt you do something like this - it is a great move by Enom based on the facts we have now

[adoptabledomains]

I am still a little in the dark about that whole Pool idea...

NSI has given snapnames the exclusive right to auction names that are currently registered at NSI after they expire, but before deletion (actually instead of deletion). As I understand, Pool has basically offered to do the same as snapnames for all registars other than NSI. Theoretically, this would probably play out to be all the ones that catch drops for them now. I would also guess namewinner would soon match this the same way for dotster and their contracted drop catch registrars to keep them from going to pool or snapnames.

If ICANN allows this, it would trump the proposed verisign WLS, since virtually no good names would ever delete, but would be auctioned by the current registar after expiration, and before deletion.

[Leading Names]

Brilliant? No!

Unprofessional? Yes
Unethical? Yes
Illegal? Possibly

<-- From post i made in another thread -->

This whole Enom registering .infos on our behalf, without our permission or knowledge is totally unprofessional and has just landed me in big trouble.

I received a letter from solicitor a month or so back representing a major company asking me to delete a typo domain I had in my account, it was a .com domain and asked enom to delete the domain, which they did.

Great I thought, problem over. That was not the case though.

Although the typo domain was deleted it continued to show in my account (as always seems to happen after a transfer/deletion).

This morning I wake to a letter from the same solicitor saying that I had now registered the .info of the .com typo I had registered – obviously they are not happy.

I simply cannot believe Enom have the nerve to register domains on our behalf, using our Whois info and without our knowledge. Enom now officially sucks in my book They will be getting no more business from me.

- Rob

[Steen]

Brilliant? No!

Unprofessional? Yes
Unethical? Yes
Illegal? Possibly

<-- From post i made in another thread -->

This whole Enom registering .infos on our behalf, without our permission or knowledge is totally unprofessional and has just landed me in big trouble.

I received a letter from solicitor a month or so back representing a major company asking me to delete a typo domain I had in my account, it was a .com domain and asked enom to delete the domain, which they did.

Great I thought, problem over. That was not the case though.

Although the typo domain was deleted it continued to show in my account (as always seems to happen after a transfer/deletion).

This morning I wake to a letter from the same solicitor saying that I had now registered the .info of the .com typo I had registered – obviously they are not happy.

I simply cannot believe Enom have the nerve to register domains on our behalf, using our Whois info and without our knowledge. Enom now officially sucks in my book They will be getting no more business from me.

- Rob

MONIKER!

[ToastyX]

It's a very stupid move. If they want to register them, fine, but they shouldn't use our WHOIS info without our permission because now I'm the legal owner of domains I didn't want and have no control over, and all liability is on me. This can cause major problems like TISSCA ran into.

[Duke]

It's a very stupid move. If they want to register them, fine, but they shouldn't use our WHOIS info without our permission because now I'm the legal owner of domains I didn't want and have no control over, and all liability is on me. This can cause major problems like TISSCA ran into.

I also frequently check WhoIs info to see who I am dealing with. If anyone can register a domain in someone else's name, what is to stop them from registering one in the name of a well-known reputable domainer, set up an email account then start sending out phony sale offers at very low prices. People check the WhoIs and go "Oh I know him, this must be legit" and they send off the money which will never be seen again. In addition to them being conned the person's name that was used without his knowledge has his reputation trashed.

[adoptabledomains]

I also frequently check WhoIs info to see who I am dealing with. If anyone can register a domain in someone else's name, what is to stop them from registering one in the name of a well-known reputable domainer, set up an email account then start sending out phony sale offers at very low prices. People check the WhoIs and go "Oh I know him, this must be legit" and they send off the money which will never be seen again. In addition to them being conned the person's name that was used without his knowledge has his reputation trashed.

I fully agree. I monitor some keywords including my last name. On the 28th, my monitoring list inicated a .com including my name was registered in the .info. In checking the whois, It indiatated I had registered the name. I knew I hadn't, but at first thought I'd picked it up in a drop or something. However, it was in none of my accounts and at a registrar I'd never heard of. I started doing research, but was fearful, particularly since the domain contained my name, that a third party was putting a domain in my name and may point it toward bad content, use it for spamming with my name in the whois, etc. I was very worried.

I am totally against the way enom/sipence has handled this. They should have immediately sent an email to all domain holders indicating what they had done, or put the domains in their own name unless accepted by the .com version owner.

The cornering of the .info market at the expense of affilias is what I refer to as a brilliant idea not covered in other threads. The handling of it with the owners of other versions is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen and IS covered in other threads. My point here is looking at what they've done, not necessarily the blunderous way they've done it. I'm not even sure they really even knew the full ramifications for themselves or the end users when they decided to do this.

[Anthony Ng]

They should have immediately sent an email to all domain holders indicating what they had done ...

My take is that they should NOT have done that in the first place without prior permission from the registrant. I guess it is actually CRIMINALLY illegal in many jurisdictions.

[David G]

Can you imagine the lawsuit possibilities involved? Even a big Class Action against them is possible as I am sure they reg'd a lot of names which are trademarked too, which they either did not check or care about. Doubt if they checked for TM's as it is very time consuming, error prone and tedious and do not see it being done on large scale.

[seeker]

it's funny, many of us are worried about this.

Let me ask a very very simple question.

What is to stop anyone and I mean ANYONE, from goign to one of those free .info reg places that require no CC, and purposely order the 25 most highly defended TM .infos still available in YOUR name???

Has anyone thought of that before we all jump on Enom?
Food for thought...

[izoot]

it's funny, many of us are worried about this.

Let me ask a very very simple question.

What is to stop anyone and I mean ANYONE, from goign to one of those free .info reg places that require no CC, and purposely order the 25 most highly defended TM .infos still available in YOUR name???

Has anyone thought of that before we all jump on Enom?
Food for thought...

Well if that was the case then it would be a completely different story.

The story here is that Enom:

Registered domains with all our info without our consent.

Not put them in our portfolios with control panel access ( maybe they just wanted to surprise us with presents? )

Has exposed us to possible legal issues

They have done it with 4 of the names I have there...fortunately the names don't pose any legal risk.

Just for starters...

Thats why jump on Enom...because they asked us too by doing this...

Ham and cheese on Rye ( food for thought )

[seeker]

so....
If I am hungry...
ham and cheese sounds good..

can I not 'screw' you?????????????/

[izoot]

so....
If I am hungry...
ham and cheese sounds good..

can I not 'screw' you?????????????/

Sorry Seeker..ya lost me here.

How exactly should I respond to that post?

[seeker]

it was a metaphor.

Where does one stop?

[izoot]

it was a metaphor.

Where does one stop?

Hmmm...I guess I don't know where one stops..

I also don't know what it has to do with Enom registering domains with all our contact info.

Who knows...maybe their intentions were good and not self serving to register without our consent...I guess we'll find out when someone from enom responds.

z

[ExpireGuy]

My take is that they should NOT have done that in the first place without prior permission from the registrant.

Good point....and in my view the true basis of the argument.

Has there been any notification from Enom (Sipence) for registrants effected by this mass non consentual .info bedlam of regging? And where the hell is ICANN in all of this? How can they pull a blind eye to a little known registrar that has single handedly doubled .info registrations in one month without even notifying the majority of registrants who's own personal data could leave them accountable for actions they never agreed to in the first place?......simply maddening.

[Duke]

I hope those who are opposed to this have dropped an email to ICANN letting them know domains were registered using your name and contact information without your knowledge or consent. That is a violation of ICANN rules requiring true contact information in the WhoIs record.

[adoptabledomains]

I hope those who are opposed to this have dropped an email to ICANN letting them know domains were registered using your name and contact information without your knowledge or consent. That is a violation of ICANN rules requiring true contact information in the WhoIs record.

And now 14 days after the first registrations were done, I still have not received any official notification from enom/sipence!

Not giving advance notification or opt-out was poor judgement.
Not giving simultaneous notification was even worse.
Not giving response after 10-14 days is totally irresponsible.

Even if not individually sent, a press release on their site should be warranted.

Hey Duke, I think this warrants a DNjournal article or interview.

[Duke]

Even if not individually sent, a press release on their site should be warranted.

Hey Duke, I think this warrants a DNjournal article or interview.

I've had some PM's suggesting this as well Mark. I've just been waiting for the "other shoe to drop" which will be how Enom explains this action when (and if) they place those domains in their customer accounts. Then ICANN and Afilias can be queried on the whole affair.