Is this for real?

by wasasister 2 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  wasasister

  Got a notification from Godaddy just today. Is it for real? Anyone?

  Dear Valued Go Daddy Customer, Today I have the unfortunate responsibility of informing you that there has been a decision made by bureaucrats of a Federal agency that takes away your right to privacy as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. This decision was unilaterally made by the National Telecommunications and Information Association ("NTIA") www.ntia.doc.gov without hearings that would determine the impact on those affected, and delivered without notice ? in short, the NTIA decision was made without due process of any kind. This is exactly how our government is not supposed to work. The effect of this decision is to disallow new private domain name registrations on .US domain names. In addition, if you already own a private .US domain name registration, you will be forced to forfeit your privacy no later than January 26, 2006. By that time, you will need to choose between either making your personal information available to anyone who wants to see it, or giving up your right to that domain name. I personally find it ironic that our right to .US privacy was stripped away, without due process, by a federal government agency ? an agency that should be looking out for our individual rights. For the NTIA to choose the .US extension is the ultimate slap in your face. .US is the only domain name that is specifically intended for Americans (and also those who have a physical presence in our great country). So think about this for a moment. These bureaucrats stripped away the privacy that you're entitled to as an American, on the only domain name that says that you are an American. I am outraged by this ? you should be also. If, like me, you are outraged at the NTIA's decision to strip away our constitutional right to privacy, www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com will provide you with a petition to sign. (Only your name will be published, your address and email information will be kept private.) This Web site also provides a very easy way for you to send either a fax or an email, expressing your outrage, to your Congressperson and Senators. This is all provided at no cost to you. All that is required is for you to take the time to visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com sign the petition, and send the fax or email to your legislators. On my personal Blog, www.BobParsons.com there are a number of articles where you can learn more about the NTIA's unfortunate decision and what you can do to help get it reversed. I also will be talking about our right to privacy on Radio Go Daddy, our weekly radio show that debuts today, March 30, at 7 PM PST. To find out how to listen in, please visit the Web site dedicated to the show, www.RadioGoDaddy.com. You can be sure that I, and everyone at GoDaddy.com, will do everything in our power to get the NTIA decision reversed. However, we need your help. Please visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com to sign the petition and express your feelings to your Congressperson and Senators. Sincerely, Bob Parsons President and Founder GoDaddy.com

  © 2005 Go Daddy Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
• 

  IP_SEC

  Wasa,

  What I understand of this is that NTIA which makes rules for the .US ccTLD, will not be permitting non compliant registrars selling .us domain names. It has to do with registrars to providing accurate contact information about domain owners.

  I don?t know, I might be wrong, don?t think this means that you will lose your .us domain; I think it just means that if your registrar is not complying with NTIA, it will lose its use of the TLD. Just move to a complaint registrar.

  Can anyone comment as to my interpretation of this?

  IPSec
• 

  doofus

  It's for real, but the impact on our privacy, our future, our grandchildren's way of life, etc etc etc, is a little oversold. OK, a lot oversold.

  First off: The decision only impacts .US domain names. So if you have something like wasasister.com registered you aren't affected.

  .US has been around for 20 years and was used exclusively by schools, governments and the like until a couple of years ago. In '02 the NTIA opened it for public use with the stipulation that the registrars had to be either US citizens, have a business in this country, or some other direct connection to the USA.

  When NTIA allowed 3rd party registrars to start registering .US names, the contract they used apparently stipulated that the registrars were required to collect and make available accurate registration information for the name holders. NTIA is now interpreting this to mean that anonymous proxies, which are used by about 10% of the .US registrars, violate the terms of the registration; the NTIA doesn't have any way to confirm the registrant's info with the registrant directly, because they can't see the information.

  Why is NTIA doing this? Maybe they think Osama is trying to buy up all the good .US second-levels. Maybe someone registered Bushsucks.US using a proxy and that was the last straw.

  The privacy geeks have their knickers in a twist over this, but the only ones really affected are the .US registrants using proxy registrations, who must now either move to a non-.US domain name, give up their vitae, or fight it out in court.

  Isn't it ironic that the "petition" on Godaddy's site requires petitioners to include their name, address, Email address and phone number? And that you can't sign the petition without all the above? I'll bet a mocha latte that the signees wind up on Godaddy's spam list. (Not that it would be a bad thing.. their spokesmodel has a great rack.)

  A Slashdot post puts it best, I think: (spelling not corrected)

  • If you are doing something that you know is going to be a lightning-rod for whacko's, depending on an Anonymous domain registration is going to get you killed. the minimum would be a registering under a DBA owned by a corpartion, owned by a DBA, owned by a corpartion formed in another state by a DBA owned by a corparation, using a mail-drop as an address, forwarding to a P.O. box, and phones answered by a staffed answering compnay, forwarding calls to an unlisted number.

  The inability to hide one's identity behind a .US TLD address registration is trivial anonymity IMHO. And why go all nucular on this issue, when there are much bigger privacy fish to fry -- starting with the healthcare industry and its requirements for your Social Security # ?

  The registrars like Godaddy.com are just p'd off because they promised their customers anonymity when they had no right to do so, and now they have to make up for it. It's going to cost them time, money, and hassle. Best to get out front of the issue by waving the constitution around.