After a round of bad publicity they had to be unhappy with, Network Solutions has announced modifications to their domain "protection" scheme. Under this new feature, about which I wrote extensively earlier today, they registered any available domain name you search for using their facilities. They did this purportedly to protect you from frontrunners and domain tasters, but of course the practice is, itself, a form of frontrunning and domain tasting.
A statement was sent out to a number of venues on which complaints were heard, including CircleID and DomainNameWire:
This is definitely an improvement, although it doesn't get Network Solutions off the "monetization" hook.
Number 2 they just had to do. It was a major blunder. The fact that they released this feature before getting this part of it right reflects quite badly on them.
Number 3 is just plain weird. Why bother? If someone wants to check a domain without running the risk of having Network Solutions grab it, they should take the obvious step of checking somewhere else. For Windows users, I'm a big fan of the Sysinternals (now Microsoft) command line whois tool.
Nowhere in this does it say that they will disclose to users of their site beforehand that any searches of available domains on the home page will result in those domains being registered by Network Solutions (for their own benefit of course). So clearly they're still trying to feel out how much they can get away with.
Throughout the launch of this effort we have made, and continue to make, improvements to our protection measure. I want to update you on some of the improvements we are implementing in the near term:The new page says, as point 1 indicates, that the site is under construction and that it is registered with Network Solutions. A box in the middle cycles through this explanation in a variety of languages:
- We have changed the current webpage to which reserved domain names resolve to a general under construction page. Additionally, all new reserved names after tonight will not resolve to any page at all.
- This week, we will be making enhancements that will address the concerns related to disclosure of zone file and DNS server information of the reserved names. This should address some of the concerns recently raised.
- Very soon we will remove our customer protection measure from our WHOIS search page, so that no domains searched on this page will be reserved. We will continue to reserve, however, domains searched from our homepage.
This is definitely an improvement, although it doesn't get Network Solutions off the "monetization" hook.
Number 2 they just had to do. It was a major blunder. The fact that they released this feature before getting this part of it right reflects quite badly on them.
Number 3 is just plain weird. Why bother? If someone wants to check a domain without running the risk of having Network Solutions grab it, they should take the obvious step of checking somewhere else. For Windows users, I'm a big fan of the Sysinternals (now Microsoft) command line whois tool.
Nowhere in this does it say that they will disclose to users of their site beforehand that any searches of available domains on the home page will result in those domains being registered by Network Solutions (for their own benefit of course). So clearly they're still trying to feel out how much they can get away with.
