Re: [ga] Kamusi.com Domain

["Jeffrey A. Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Debbie and all,

  Tim and Domains By Proxy were not, and have not been very
forthright in their statements.  This is unfortunate.  So no naivety
on your part Debbie.  Domains By Proxy is a separate corporate
entity, you can check that out for yourself easily enough, but I
already have.  Ergo GoDaddy having private information regarding
a registrant of any domain name that uses Domains By Proxy and
is a GoDaddy customer as well, really do not have the privacy
they may be under the belief they have if the price is right, as you
rightly say.  Selling someone's PII information is as you should know,
in the US, against the law, if it can be proven.  But using the business
model that GoDaddy and Domains By Proxy uses, the burden of
proof would be difficult to reach, if obtainable at all.  For this and
many other reasons, doing business with intentionally dishonest
businesses such as these is a dangerous if not dooming proposition.
As such, why I in the behalf of our members have ask for GoDaddy's
business practices be looked into closely by DOJ.  So far, those calls
have seemingly fallen on deaf ears.  Perhaps in this new administration,
that shall change soon.  Unless I miss my guess, if Eric Holder is
confirmed, he will be directing the necessary DOJ resources to do
as our members and myself have suggested/ask...  America, and
in fact the rest of the world can no longer afford this sort of nonsense.

  I would again suggest to ICANN's staff and legal council, that they
seriously consider a in depth audit of GoDaddy with emphasis on
ethical business practices, and compliance with privacy laws and
regulation accordingly before a much more serious situation is
undertaken.

Debbie Garside wrote:

> 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.
>
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>
> -------- 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
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>
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