[ga] Re: More Stolen Domains -- not FUD

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

--- "Ross Wm. Rader" <ross@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Ask Bhavin why the
> > nameservers of AEM.com haven't been changed yet, or those of
> F3.com,
> > even though they are in the same account as the thief who stole
> > Easy-Dater.com, with the same FAKE WHOIS. The answer will
> demonstrate
> > to you why the current system still sucks.
> 
> Have repatriation proceedings been initiated in these cases? If not,
> why 
> not? This is the quickest way to get the names back.

I don't know the prior owners, and have limited time (uncompensated) to
do "pro bono" work. I try to do the best I can. Furthermore, I don't
even have "standing". Even if I know it's stolen, there's no mechanism
for me to challenge the registration, except to point it out, and hope
registrars will do something....obviously at DirectI.com, a thief can
keep a name with bad WHOIS active, even when other stolen domains are
found in their account.... 

> > I disagree with you that stolen domains end up in the right hands.
> > There are a lot of stolen domain names that STAY in the thieves
> hands,
> > or are resold to unwitting/uncaring buyers, because the prior
> owners
> > were completely unreachable. Those names should have instead
> expired
> > and been open to registration by anyone. If there's no complainant,
> > except the "public", how is the name recovered?? 
> 
> Again - if people aren't availing themselves of the repatriation
> rights 
> in the policy, then the names will stay with the thieves.

I'm glad we agree here, that the names are staying with the thieves, if
left unchallenged. Thus, there are a bunch of names which would have
dropped, that are currently in the hands of thieves, or have been
resold by the thieves. Those names have BAD PROVENANCE. They have never
become clean. Since there's no official WHOIS history, how does a buyer
recognize those bad names (that me and others are aware of)? They can
never go back to having good provenance, unless a legitimate prior
owner steps forward, to reclaim them.

It's in the public interest for those names to be challenged, so that
they can be deleted, and made open to having GOOD PROVENANCE again
(there are some 2-letter .coms in the list, just to give you a sense of
the values at stake -- can't publish them, as it would be bad if I
wrongly identified a name as stolen when it wasn't, but in 99% of cases
I've been right in trusting my ability to detect a stolen domain).
Dormant names with bad WHOIS that suddenly switch to a new registrar,
are tested for traffic on a parking page, then immediately posted for
resale at various venues are some of the signs that folks should be
looking out for...

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
http://www.kirikos.com/