In article <telecom23.516.15@telecom-digest.org>, TELECOM Digest
Editor noted in response to Melvin Klassen:
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Don't have ugly thoughts like that;
> ugly thinking is *my* domain. I suspect that the persons running
> the stolen web site (internet-history.org) and the persons running
> the *real* web site (www.promotechnology.com) are one and the same
> otherwise known as 'Bealo Group, SA'. In case you have not checked
> it out, the bogus history site run by the cybersquatter is sort of
> constructed 'on the fly' with some javascript which looks at what
> you asked for (in this case the URL internet-history) and slaps that
> phrase at the top of his otherwise page on penis enlargment ads. I
> have tried it with a few other inoperative URLs in .org and they
> get the same web page nonsense fed in those cases also, with the
> bogus URL slapped on the top with a message saying 'you want to
> buy this page?'
> I had thought that a few months ago one of the registrars had tried
> that same stunt, redirecting unused URLs to some sort of 'helpful
> page' offering suggestions for where you might find what you wanted
> instead. I had thought when that happened and became obvious there
> were several people on the net who put much pressure on that registrar
> to make them quit doing it. Or maybe I am mistaken; I usually am
> these days.
That would be "Network Solutions" -- they run the .com and .net registry.
Any unused or misspelled domain would end up at their website. Since
this was a blatent violation of the social contract ( even though it
was perfectly legal ), the organization that writes and maintains the
most used DNS software ( ISC - Internet Systems Consortium, software
is BIND 8.x or 9.x currently, http://www.isc.org ) came out with an
immediate patch to make their name grabbing inoperative. Here are
the commands to add to the configuration file of a current version
of bind:
zone "COM" { type delegation-only; };
zone "NET" { type delegation-only; };
This disables their evil wildcard power grab.
If you go look at the Network Solutions homepage, you'll find that
they give you a great break on renewing a domain -- $19.99 per year --
if you renew for five years. The fact that this is more than twice
what others charge (http://www.godaddy.com for example at $8.95) ...
And they are also associated with VeriSign who will give you a great
deal on an SSL certificate at $895 per year ( or you could go to
GeoTrust and get the equivalent for $229 with renewals at $179 ).
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So, if this 'social contract' implies
that non-working/unoccupied URLs are to go to at best a very generic
'not in service' screen, then a web site on which a fee had not been
paid -- therefore being unoccupied or non-working should go there as
well. PAT]
Ed Clarke (clarke@cilia.org)