GoDaddy.com has had to sue VeriSign once before. VeriSign was sending out letters to GoDaddy.com customers, telling them their domains were about to expire (they may have been approaching the renewal date), and that they needed to renew now. If you didn't read the letter very carefully you wouldn't realize you weren't renewing your domain with GoDaddy, you were transferring it to VeriSign! Didn't VeriSign used to be a reputable company?
-Ryan --- "GoDaddy.com" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dear Valued Go Daddy Customer, > > Have you ever needed to ask for directions while you > were driving? Let's say you stopped to ask a trusted > authority, like a police officer. > > You'd expect that officer to be honest, right? > Wouldn't you expect him or her to provide you a > safe, direct route to where you needed to go? I sure > would. > > But what if that officer instead misdirected you to > a shopping mall? A shopping mall, it turns out, that > actually paid the officer for every sale that > resulted? > > That would be an abuse of the police officer's > authority. It would be capitalizing on your > misfortune. > > We believe that's what VeriSign is doing with its > "Site Finder" marketing scheme. We believe that it > is once again abusing the power to oversee all .com > and .net domains it was granted by the U.S. > government. > > Go Daddy is now suing in federal court to stop them. > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > - - - - - - - - > HERE'S HOW VERISIGN'S SCHEME CAN AFFECT YOU: > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > - - - - - - - - > > + It will MISDIRECT YOU FROM YOUR INTENDED > DESTINATION and even MISLEAD YOU ABOUT ITS STATUS. > If you type any .com or .net address into your > browser that isn't already registered, VeriSign > hijacks you -- and sends you to an advertising page > that they own. This can occur even when you type in > a site that is registered, but is not displaying > temporarily. Used to be, if you made a mistake in > typing an address -- which is the usual reason for > not finding a site -- you would see either a "404" > error page, or a help page that your browser would > generate. Now though, VeriSign has hijacked this > entire process and puts up a paid-advertising page, > the so-called Site Finder. > > + It will COST YOU MONEY. > Advertisers pay VeriSign to position links to their > services that look similar to the misspelled > address. And that means you may well find your way > to a competitor, rather than to your intended > destination. Simply navigating on the Internet will > be more frustrating and more expensive for > consumers. Companies will be forced to purchase > every imaginable misspelling of their names to > prevent their customers from being hijacked by Site > Finder, and the cost will be passed on to you. To > VeriSign, of course, these forced domain > registrations just mean more revenue. > > + It will mean MORE SPAM HEADED FOR YOUR INBOX. > Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across the globe > have committed valuable time and resources to > developing systems that prevent spam from reaching > your mailbox. One of the more successful methods > checks to see whether the domain name of the inbound > email resolves to an actual Web site. If it doesn't, > that means the domain is fake, so your ISP doesn't > let it through. Now, though, spammers can use any > phony domains they want, because all fake domains > will "resolve" to the Site Finder page! Go Daddy's > spam filter, Spam Xploder(TM), will not be affected > because it uses Bayesian filtering technology, > instead of relying on the DNS servers, to determine > if email is spam or not. > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > - - - - - - - - > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > - - - - - - - - > > We at Go Daddy feel that Site Finder amounts to an > abuse; that VeriSign is misusing its registry > position to gain unfair advantage over the entire > Internet community. And as we did in 2002, when we > sued VeriSign over its renewal scam, we're > determined to stop it. > > We're asking a Federal judge to issue a preliminary > injunction that will halt this. If you feel, as we > do, that VeriSign is once again inappropriately > capitalizing on its position of authority, we urge > you to email VeriSign ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and > ICANN ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and let them know. > > Thank you for your attention and support on this > matter. You can review our press release and legal > complaint here > https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/pressreleases/verisign_suit.asp. > > As always, thanks for being a Go Daddy customer. > > Sincerely, > Bob Parsons > President > GoDaddy.com
