p2pnet - rss feed: Webcaster Alliance domain troubles
Webcaster Alliance says a dispute involving GO DADDY Software could seriously undermine its ongoing fight against the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
It now wants the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to open an investigation into the domain registration practices of GO DADDY Software for potential violations of the ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA).
"We made the horrible mistake of registering our domain name through GO DADDY’s service and have been caught since August in a hellish nightmare that has included GO DADDY hijacking our domain name for their own profit and gain, which clearly indicates they are warehousing and speculating on domain names," says WA president Ann Gabriel.
"We have spent some time researching this service and apparently we aren’t the only ones this has happened to. We encourage others who have had problems with GO DADDY’s ‘Domains By Proxy’ service to contact us to see if they are eligible to join in on any legal action we might pursue against GO DADDY Software, Inc. in this matter."
Gabriel says the problems began when she contacted GO DADDY in August to update the DNS information. She was then informed that the domain was registered under Domains By Proxy, and unless she could provide specific information, GO DADDY refused to allow any changes to be made.
"From there on the whole process went downhill," Gabriel explained, "The person who had originally taken care of the domain registration was out of business and I had no way to provide GO DADDY with the personal information given at the time of registration GO DADDY was requesting.
"I submitted every document they requested of me and they said they would get back with me. I explained verbally and in writing that our organization had filed suit against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and thousands of people, including journalists from all over the world visited our site on a regular basis for news and information.
"They kept promising to look into the matter, but nothing was ever done and despite my pleas, they refused to update the contact information and forced our domain name into expiration. Shortly thereafter, they redirected our URL to their own page advertising GO DADDY products and services and began benefiting from the respective traffic we’ve built up over the last year, for their own Corporate gain.
"I have … never, EVER run into anything like this. When it became apparent that GO DADDY was going to force our domain into expiration we immediately took steps to register a new URL ‘WebcastersAlliance.com’ (http://www.webcastersalliance.com) and put the site up under the new domain to mitigate our damages as much as possible.
"The problem is we rely on the traffic and the donations from our supporters in our fight against the RIAA. If they can’t find us they have no way of knowing what is happening with our organization and no way to donate and continue supporting our cause."
