Domain Name Harvester's?

[VAX_to_PBX]

Examples: cyberia.*, hacktronics.com

The WHOIS on these domain's reports they have been under the same ownership for the past 11 year's, but no server IP has ever been binded to the cyberia.* domain's, and the hacktronics.com domain had an error page configured in 1998.

Earthlink has owned the cyberia.* domain's since 1995, and has never leased them, or even binded a server to any of the domains.

A small obscure engineering company that doesn't appear to have ever had client's, or a product line owns' hacktronics.com.

I'm sure there is at least ten's of thousand's of these hostage domain's out there.

Does someone here know something I don't about these company's domain harvesting habits?

They also have a tendancy to not respond, but instead start trying to stalk you when you try to contact them regarding one of these hostage domain's.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Domain Name Harvester's?

Examples: cyberia.*, hacktronics.com

The WHOIS on these domain's reports they have been under the same ownership for the past 11 year's, but no server IP has ever been binded to the cyberia.* domain's, and the hacktronics.com domain had an error page configured in 1998.

Earthlink has owned the cyberia.* domain's since 1995, and has never leased them, or even binded a server to any of the domains.

A small obscure engineering company that doesn't appear to have ever had client's, or a product line owns' hacktronics.com.

I'm sure there is at least ten's of thousand's of these hostage domain's out there.

Does someone here know something I don't about these company's domain harvesting habits?

They also have a tendancy to not respond, but instead start trying to stalk you when you try to contact them regarding one of these hostage domain's.

Something extensively popularized in the mid to late 90's, domain name [squatting|future's-trading|gambling|prospecting|speculation] became a way to "get rich fast!!!" for a few people, while few ever did. It involves choosing a name that is or will be popular, "buying" the name, and then selling control/access to the domain name for a profit.

Eventually laws, and rules were suggested as ways to deal with [these opportuniistic, good for nothing domain name squatters|entrepeneurial futures traders, with sharp eyes to speculate about valued domain names].. These laws/rules were to be created to address concerns where a trademwark name existed which was found in a domain not owned by the same company but were not being used for genuine services -- only for the purpose of reselling it to the company.

In the early 90's, there were many domains that were not yet purchased. Variations of "McDonalds" various film and media company names, Some people thought the Internet was going to be big, and started speculating on the futures of a domain name market by buying domain names that included trademarked names, and some of these were sold, for profit, to large corporations. (Back in these days, it was much more expensive, as you had to go through internic and before they were "privatized they would charge something like $80 or $100 per year per domain.)

(Remember altavista.digital.com and the separate www.altavista.com" ? There were others. Some domain names made people rich when the company decided to buy them, while some were take to court, but many more let their domains expire with the registrar.)

Eventually, some company must have had the idea to [steal-back|take|win] their domain name from a ["squatter"|"speculator"] by taking them to court. It could be argued, though I don't recall any specific cases going to court, that registering such a name, and then asking a company for money for the domain could appear to create a legal problem similar to extortion.

Then they added suggestions for policy changes and new procedures to allow for contesting "owenrship" of a domain in such cases through ICANN, et al. and arbitrate the process.

Because of the legal issue and this arbitration, some "domain-name-futures-traders" must have figured that they could put up bogus sites that really look like they are not, and never ask for money for the domain. Instead, they may wait for the company, or business to offer them an exact figure, and then accept or decline.

In cases where the domain name selected had no collisions in the TradeMark space (anywhere) offering domains for resale in web pages published in a virtualhost, would probably be fine.

Some have suggested that even if such a trademark owner asked, "how much for the domain," and the "squatter" responded with a value, that it could successfully be argued in court or through other means, that a demand for money was still made by the domain holder. Though I Am Not A Lawyer, it would seem that both sides could argue their own sides on this, with neither being a sure winner.

Why might they hound someone showing interest? Perhaps they want to hear an offer.

I'm too tired to google for answers with specific cases. If you want example citatiosns and links, but nobody provides them or you can't find them, I can try a followup later.

Why do they stalk you? Perhaps they think you might be a person with a few million dollars, willing to buy just a name.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Domain Name Harvester's?

an interesting note concerns the matter of Uzi Nissan, a man with a tech company who has been sued relentlessly by the Nissan Motor corporation since he legally owns the domain name nissan.com. The automaker's behavior in this matter is the reason i didn't buy an Xterra eventhough i liked their design many years ago.

[shrdlu]

Re: Domain Name Harvester's?

Examples: cyberia.*, hacktronics.com

They also have a tendancy to not respond, but instead start trying to stalk you when you try to contact them regarding one of these hostage domain's.

Could you please provide details on what you mean by "stalking?" I've had the experience of someone acquiring a dot com that matched the domains I already had in dot org and dot net, attempting to sell me the match in the dot com. I just instructed my registrar to wait until it expired, and then bought it out from under him.

I'd really like to understand what it is you mean by stalking. Some types of behavior are not legal; others are merely inconvenient.

[erehwon]

Re: Domain Name Harvester's?

Examples: cyberia.*, hacktronics.com

The WHOIS on these domain's reports they have been under the same ownership for the past 11 year's, but no server IP has ever been binded to the cyberia.* domain's, and the hacktronics.com domain had an error page configured in 1998.

Earthlink has owned the cyberia.* domain's since 1995, and has never leased them, or even binded a server to any of the domains.

[...]

Does someone here know something I don't about these company's domain harvesting habits?

They also have a tendancy to not respond, but instead start trying to stalk you when you try to contact them regarding one of these hostage domain's.

I'll make it easy for you, search Google for UltSearch, they are a shadowy Hong Kong company that snaps up domains the minute the names expire if the original owners fail to renew them.

UltSearch has acquired more than 100,000 domain names this way and collects millions of dollars a year from the ad links that people click.

I have had domains purchased for "projects" and let them lapse only to recieve mails from shifty companies in .ua offering to sell me my old lasped domain for at least $300.

My advice for anyone buying domains is to buy the whole domain space even if all you want is one domain. Have money in hand when searching domains in whois, and buy them! (Don't sleep on it) There are a number of companies that have arraignments with a friendly domain registry to 'test-drive' a domain for a few days before registering them. These domain speculators only need 2-3 people a day to click on their ads to prove this domain might be a good buy, and just a click a day to make it profitable.

Lastly, if there are domains you want and they are registered, consider using a firm like SnapNames to backorder a domain, its not cheap, and it can get pricey if there are more than one person wanting the domain.

I hope this helps a little.

[VAX_to_PBX]

Re: Domain Name Harvester's?

What I mean by stalking is putting effort into trying to get my hostname, and IP thru my email service. I guess there next action would've been to buy my personal details from my ISP, or use Americas' banana republic status to aqquire the data under what I call the fortune 500 justice system in the name of pseudo justice, or in other word's corporate governance.

Cyberia is actually a pre Hackers(the movie) internet cafe in the UK. I'm sure they've asked too. The company's don't respond to inquery's, and the domain's are not now, nor have they ever been for sale, or lease.

The reason it's strange is these aren't high hit rate domain's. Cyberia may get 50 hits a month if a lot of people play, and watch cyberpunk material that month, and become intrigued(rare.)

I can't really find any information with my resources showing why these domains are being held. It's one of those 'because we can' type deal's. The rep's are above responding to 'little people.'

[shrdlu]

Re: Domain Name Harvester's?

What I mean by stalking is putting effort into trying to get my hostname, and IP thru my email service. I guess there next action would've been to buy my personal details from my ISP, or use Americas' banana republic status to aqquire the data under what I call the fortune 500 justice system in the name of pseudo justice, or in other word's corporate governance.

I guess I don't see it. This is not enough detail for me. How are they trying to do this, and what made you notice it?

Cyberia is actually a pre Hackers(the movie) internet cafe in the UK. I'm sure they've asked too. The company's don't respond to inquery's, and the domain's are not now, nor have they ever been for sale, or lease.

Actually, Cyberia used to be a first person shooter. It ran on Win95 (and maybe Win98). I might still have a copy on CD somewhere. It isn't really Earthlink, it was Mindspring that owns the domain, and I think they inherited it from Netcom. I think that name is is good. If I owned it, I wouldn't give it up. What do you care? Was it one you were particularly interested in?

The reason it's strange is these aren't high hit rate domain's. Cyberia may get 50 hits a month if a lot of people play, and watch cyberpunk material that month, and become intrigued(rare.)

Yes, but that doesn't mean that the name's not a good one, and that someone doesn't intend something for it down the road. I will also point out that Earthlink used to be (and may still be) a cesspool of Scientology. Who knows? Maybe it fits in somewhere.

I can't really find any information with my resources showing why these domains are being held. It's one of those 'because we can' type deal's. The rep's are above responding to 'little people.'

The hacktronics.com domain expires on 10/27/2006. Put in a notice to your registrar, if you really care.

[VAX_to_PBX]

Re: Domain Name Harvester's?

My public email provider inbox.com notified me that a company I later learned was contracted by Earthlink sent them some cease, and assist type notification.

You can ask them about the notification cause I didn't bother getting all the detail's. Nore do I care. It's just another big buisness.


Cyberia the starfox like video game was released year's after the cyberia cafe was originally established. I had it for my old SEGA system; didn't know it was released on PC.

I was actually interested in it. I thought it would be used for the cafe. I recently watched Serial Lain again, and was reminded of the infamous cyberpunk genre cyberia cafe both in the fictional, and non-fictional worlds.

Internic says Earthlink ownes it thus I used that trademark name. I'm not savvy on corporate affiliate related subjects nore do I plan on researching any. http://reports.internic.net/cgi/whoi...et&type=domain

I can't really explain the rest of that stuff cause I'd end up posting some meaningful statement's, and showing compassion about real issues "isn't cool" because it makes the 'whatever' type's feel awkward.