RE: [ga] Kamusi.com Domain

["Debbie Garside" <debbie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Tim

Many thanks to you and others who have taken the time to respond to my email
- it has been enlightening.

I fully accept that GoDaddy.com and Domains By Proxy are not cybersquatting
domain names.  I will, of course, inform the Editor of the Kamusi blog in
order that the blog may be updated.

I also fully accept that there is a need for privacy in this world and that
GoDaddy.com/Domains By proxy are offering a bonafide service.

However, I cannot find any reference in your terms and conditions relating
to allowing disclosure of third party information to GoDaddy.com in relation
to a negotiation fee for the purchase of the domain should anyone contact
them in this regard.

Please note the paragraph in the Kamusi blog that states:

"Kamusi.com is listed as belonging to a company called "Domains by Proxy."
PK wrote to their address at the same time he wrote to Kazuya, but he never
got a reply. After Kazuya wrote back, I thought I would give a call to
Domains by Proxy. The man who answered the phone, who was quite pleasant,
told me that Domains by Proxy is a holding company that exists to hide the
real owners of a domain name. If the owners didn't want to reply to our
email, he said there was no way he could get in touch with them on our
behalf. However, he noted that the "registrar" for the account, the company
that actually routes their traffic to the internet, is a big corporation
called GoDaddy that specializes in domain names. He told me that GoDaddy has
something called their "Domain Buy Service", through which you pay GoDaddy a
fee and they promise to do everything in their power to find the actual
owner of a domain name and make a bid for it on your behalf. There are no
guarantees that they will actually succeed in getting you the name at a
price you can afford, but they will at least make the effort and pocket the
fee."

For the "quite pleasant" man from Domains By proxy to suggest the
GoDaddy.com service it would seem to indicate that Godaddy.com have access
to the "private" information held by Domains By proxy and are willing to
sell that to anyone prepared to fork out the fee.

Doesn't seem quite ethical to me.  Perhaps I am wrong but I cannot see how
GoDaddy could possibly find information about the "true" registrant without
Domains By Proxy giving it to them.  I take it Domains By Proxy and
GoDaddy.com are separate legal entities?  Is this covered in the terms and
conditions?

Also, I think at the very least, GoDaddy.com/Domains By Proxy should draw
domain name purchasers attention to the fact that Domains By Proxy are the
legal owner of the domain name at time of registration - albeit that in the
event of a dispute the Domains By Proxy terms and conditions state that the
domain name may at any time be transferred to the "true" owner and their
details made public via Whois.

http://www.domainsbyproxy.com/popup/ShowDoc.aspx?pageid=domain_nameproxy 

http://domains.adrforum.com/domains/decisions/1145651.htm 

As a businesswoman I applaud the GoDaddy.com/DBP business model in this
regard :-)  As a domain name registrant and generally interested party I
find some of this more than a little questionable.  But then that is the way
of the world and business - good if you can get it!

I hope you will forgive my naivety.

Best wishes


Debbie Garside 
 



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Tim Ruiz
Sent: 22 January 2009 19:51
To: Debbie Garside
Cc: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ga] Kamusi.com Domain


Hi Debbie. FWIW,

GoDaddy.com is not cybersquatting. Domains By Proxy is an affiliate of
GoDaddy.com, but provides its own customer support. This is no secret
and is a fact we have been clear about in public and with ICANN. We
offer Domains by proxy's private registration services at GoDaddy.com
just like we offer any of our other products and services:
http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/dbp/landing.asp
 
Domains By Proxy (DBP) was formed in response to customer demand for
privacy.  When a GoDaddy.com customer is registering a domain name, they
may select the DBP service. DBP then becomes the registrant of record
and DBP's contact information is used for the public Whois database. DBP
then enters into a separate agreement with the customer wherein the
customer retains all rights of domain name ownership.  If the customer
should ever desire to become the actual registrant of the name, they
simply have to cancel their DBP service and they automatically become
the registrant of record. This is a part of every DBP customer
agreement. In addition, DBP's agreement with its customers is also very
strict regarding Spam, IP infringement, and other illegal acts:
http://www.domainsbyproxy.com/LegalAgreement.aspx
 
You should know that Go Daddy has no more interest in a name registered
privately through DBP than it does any other non-private domain name
registration.

Best regards,
Tim Ruiz
Vice President
Corp. Development & Policy
The Go Daddy Group, Inc.

How am I doing? Please contact my direct supervisor at
president@xxxxxxxxxxx with any feedback.

This email message and any attachments hereto is intended for use only
by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain confidential
information. If you have received this email in error, please
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any copy of this message and its attachments.


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [ga] Kamusi.com Domain
From: "Debbie Garside" <debbie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, January 21, 2009 11:14 am
To: <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


Hi

As many of you know, The Kamusi Project is under the umbrella of the
World
Language Documentation Centre.

It would appear that http://www.kamusi.com was purchased at around the
time
that the Director of the Kamusi Project started investigating domain
names
(1997). It has had a holding page up for longer than the Director can
remember.

These links make interesting reading:

http://kamusi.org/en/new_domain_name

http://whois.domaintools.com/kamusi.com

Can anyone shed any light on whether GoDaddy (or a subsidiary) are
cybersquatting 7 million names as reported?

Thanks

Debbie Garside
Chief Executive Officer

PS Kamusi is Swahili for dictionary

The World Language Documentation Centre
Corner House
Barn Street
Haverfordwest
Pembrokeshire SA61 1BW
Wales UK

Tel: 0044 1437 766441
Fax: 0044 1437 766173

Web: http://www.thewldc.org










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