At 10:40 AM 4/25/01 +0100, you wrote:
>Why should someone owing us money for web hosting give su the right to
>impound their domain?
It is not unusual for a loan, service agreement or any other type of
contract to give one party the right of offset. Banks, for instance and
categorically, can take all the money out of your checking account without
notice and apply it to loans, leases and to anything else that is owed to them.
Equally, it is also not unusual for a party or a lender to have a security
interest in tangible and intangible property, including the right to
repossess, foreclose or seize the property in the event of a contract default.
If the ISP and the customer made a deal giving the ISP a security interest
in the domain name, then the matter is their business and their
problem. Even if this deal was not made, the ISP still has some possessory
rights in the domain name, in the interest of collecting a debt, but it is
still their business and their problem. There are laws and courts for
these types of issues and the proper venue, whether involving a Chevy
Caprice or a domain name, is between the parties involved and in the
courts, if necessary.
With that said, we have never withheld the transfer of a domain name. When
we are confronted with a customer attempting to avoid payment for services
delivered, it is usually a small amount or we feel the cost to persue it
would be more than it is worth in terms of time and aggravation. There is
also some PR value in letting the customer win, even when a sense of equity
says he shouldn't . . .
Even if there was a large amount outstanding, personally, I don't think
that withholding the domain name (whether permitted by contract, possession
or otherwise) is worth the time and aggravation. That's a business call,
however, as opposed to an ethics judgement.
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Don Brown - Dallas, Texas USA Internet Concepts, Inc.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.inetconcepts.net
PGP Key ID: 04C99A55 (972) 788-2364 Fax: (972) 788-5049
Providing Internet Solutions Worldwide - An eDataWeb Affiliate
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