Possible Domain Name Fraud?

January 29 2008 by Adam

Last week I read a blog post by Mike Brunt, a colleague of mine. In it, he expresses his concern over the potential for Domain Registrars to watch for commonly searched domain names, and to buy, or in his case, "hold" them — something he thinks may have happened to him. This raises a very good point: That the registrar has a vested interest to capture searches and to keep tabs on which names are being commonly searched, potentially meaning they are worth more money. Before now, I would always search for available domains at my registrar of choice (Active-Domain), and I have to say that although I search infrequently, and buy even less frequently, I've never had a problem or suspected them of acting unethically. Even so, I think I will start running any name searches through an independent site with no vested interest in what I'm searching for, like GeekTools.

Posted in Meta |

2 comments:

1. Active-Domain Says:
   Jul 23, 2008 at 12:32 AM
   Hi,
   
   I worked for Active-Domain.com and just saw your comment. I want to assure you our company is strongly against such practice and would never do that. In fact, we have been actively exposing registrars that are doing that. We know how frustrating it is for users to find their intended domains being snapped up by their registrars and being "offered" absurdly high price to obtain it.
   
   As for your intention of using "independent" sites to search for available domains, I would like to advise you that such sites can also betray you by selling your search data to companies who offer them large amount of monetary return. After all, there are very few people who would resist good amount of money dangling before their eyes ;o)
   
   Tom
2. Adam Says:
   Jul 23, 2008 at 12:32 AM
   Hi Tom,
   
   As I said in the post (in so few words), I am a happy, loyal customer, and have no reason to suspect unethical behavior from Active-Domain. It's great to hear that you're exposing others who might be doing so.
   
   That said, there really is no 100% safe solution, is there? I can either search on a registrar, or on an independent site. The difference being that in the former case, I am basically handing my data over to that registrar. In the latter, they have to seek it out (or possibly accept it, if being offered?). I like the idea of that extra step.
   
   In any case, the most important thing is awareness, which is the reason behind the post.
   
   Thanks for the comment. :)

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