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The Internet Businesses Networking

ICANN Moves Against GoDaddy Domain Lockdowns 146

Posted by Zonk from the they-delved-too-deep dept.
An anonymous reader writes "ICANN is finally taking action against Domain Registrar GoDaddy's controversial 'lockdowns'. GoDaddy has long had a policy of 'locking down' domain names for 60 days after a customer updated their contact details. This put customers in a Catch 22 position: ICANN requires customers keep their contact details up to date, or risk having the domain forfeited. Yet during the lockdown period the customer is prevented from transferring the domain from GoDaddy to another registrar. If the lockdown ran over the domain's expiry date, customers were forced to renew with GoDaddy or lose the domain. ICANN proposes to ban this practice. ICANN who is charged with overseeing the Internet has long been accused of giving domain registrars a free ride. But recently after ICANN failed to discipline Network Solutions over a front-running scam, they found themselves both on the wrong end of a lawsuit by lawyers Kabateck Brown Kellner. Is ICANN's action a signal of increased vigilance in policing registrars, or is it a PR move paving the way for a complete removal of US Government oversight?"
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ICANN Moves Against GoDaddy Domain Lockdowns More

ICANN Moves Against GoDaddy Domain Lockdowns

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  • I'd rather not buy from the likes of GoDaddy or NS (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Malevolent Tester ( 1201209 ) * on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @07:30AM (#22998610) Journal
    Does anyone have a list of the smaller/more honest registrars? I remember on the last Network Solutions article there were a few people talking about the better service at some of the less well known ones.

    • Re:I'd rather not buy from the likes of GoDaddy or (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "Mein Furher! ICANN Moves!"
      Yarr Yarr

    • Re:I'd rather not buy from the likes of GoDaddy or (Score:5, Informative)

      by AccUser ( 191555 ) <mhg.taose@co@uk> on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @07:35AM (#22998632) Homepage
      I always use 1&1 Internet, which has excellent support and is extremely well priced. For hosting, Joyent is your friend.

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        1&1 Internet took over a week & a half to register my (new) domain. Went to GoDaddy, registered it in 20ms after I clicked purchase. Thankfully 1&1 Internet gave a refund, an additional week later.

        • Re:I'd rather not buy from the likes of GoDaddy or (Score:4, Informative)

          by dmoisan ( 111138 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @09:10AM (#22999216) Homepage
          I'm soured on 1&1 too. At work, we have one domain (our primary one) on Netsol, and the rest of the names on 1&1. Unfortunately, 1&1 bounced an email to us and put us in collections and never bothered to give us a phone call.

          We only found this out when we wanted to consolidate all our domains with 1&1. (Of course, I found that our 10-year old domain had the contact info from our old ISP!)

          Because of the transfer screwup, we kept it status quo with one name on NS and the others on 1&1. It was such a hassle with 1&1 that I am thinking seriously about consolidation again, only to Netsol instead! (and that is saying much!)

          I'd like to see reforms at ICANN, so I don't have to worry about being screwed when some registrar is bought out by someone or when some different set of suits is put in management.

          P.S. Direcnic is not the cheapest, but I use them personally and I have no reason to switch. Besides, considering their location, they have disaster preparedness down pat. :)

          • I'm soured on 1&1 too.

            The Better Business Bureau seems to agree with your opinion and other repliers who have had bad experiences with 1 And 1 Internet, Inc. From the BBB's reliability report on 1 & 1 Internet [bbb.org]:

            • Customer Experience
              Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s).

              Customer Complaint Data
              Number of complaints processed by the BBB over the last 36 months: 510
              Number of complaints processed by the BBB in the last 12 months: 256

            The report tha

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Excellent support? They took 2 weeks to fix a domain name that their control panel borked when updating.
        I was out a domain name for two weeks, and received no compensation.
        Oh, and if you only do domain registration through them, you're limited to 5 subdomains per account, not per domain.
        That means if you have 100 domain names, you can only have 5 glue domains.
      • I registered with MyDomain. US$9/yr per domain name. They seem okay. We've added subdomain names and modified various email forwarding settings using web forms, and generally it has taken effect within an hour (usually within half an hour). No big problems. Haven't tried to switch to different registrars yet, though, so I don't know how they are in that respect. I checked out their web site before going with them, and I liked how they responded to messages in their help forum.

        Slightly offtopic: the abo
      • How odd, asked for a recommendation for a registrar, you just throw in a recommendation for a hosting service that serves a fairly particular, non-generalized need?
      • I used to love 1&1 too, until they decided to screw me over.

        About three years ago I started hosting podcasts. I didn't see a problem because when I'd set up the account (perhaps two three years before that) there was a bandwidth cap of 5GB a month. However 1&1 removed the cap without altering their terms and conditions with me. Suddenly I had a £400 bill posted to me, which obviously was slightly worrying.

        Despite dozens of phone calls with service representatives (which seem to only consis

    • Re:I'd rather not buy from the likes of GoDaddy or (Score:4, Insightful)

      by SolitaryMan ( 538416 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @07:38AM (#22998648) Homepage Journal
      Chances are, you'll end up buying from GoDaddy or NS, but with the retailer's extra charge.
      • Not always. In many cases, GoDaddy sells the domains to smaller registrars at lower prices than they charge end users, so many times the markup brings it to the same price as GoDaddy, sometimes less, sometimes more.

        GoDaddy is like $10 a year, which I think is plenty cheap, so while I don't like their tactics, I don't think their pricing is exorbitant, and their online tools are pretty nice.

        • Re:I'd rather not buy from the likes of GoDaddy or (Score:4, Insightful)

          by paeanblack ( 191171 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @10:05AM (#22999728)
          GoDaddy is like $10 a year, which I think is plenty cheap, so while I don't like their tactics, I don't think their pricing is exorbitant, and their online tools are pretty nice.

          In this case, GoDaddy's lockdown policies are probably worth the trouble they cause. On the down side, you need to cough up an extra $10/domain if you happen to change your info, AND want to move registrars, AND wait until there are less than 60 days on your contract. On the up side, if your account gets compromised, you have 60 days to notice and fix things before it will cost you thousands of dollars in legal fees to maybe get your domains back.

          GoDaddy is slimy, and they will take the spammers dollars as readily as they'll take anyone else's, but that doesn't mean they are pure evil incarnate. If you ever do have a domain you care about compromised, you'll be very, very happy with their lockdown policies.
      • After a little bouncing around through bad registrars, I moved all of my domain names to Moniker. $11 per domain name, great customer service and tech support, and I'm not shafted left and right like I was with GoDaddy. Even though I have told GoDaddy repeatedly the issues they caused (tech support recommended an upgrade to Plesk that fubared by server and they refused to fix it), they have followed up about a dozen times checking to see if there's anything they can do to help my account (e.g. sell my more
        • Sounds like you have a dedicated server. So if GoDaddy advises you something, why should they be responsible as well?
          • I had a virtual dedicated server. After troubleshooting a very specific error for Plesk component (not mission critical) on my own (and was not able to find a solution), I consulted with GoDaddy's tech support. One guy recommended a specific upgrade, which then broke several other functions (specifically webmail).

            I had no shell access, and he "fixed" the problem for me. A year later I did some other updates (forgetting that one component could not be updated). When I contacted tech support, they told me

    • I tend to use Joker and 123-reg
      • Joker shits me... anytime there was a support query or we needed to transfer a domain with non-current details the turnaround was in the order of weeks.

        For the few customers we've taken over with domain issues, this wasn't acceptable by any means...
        • anytime there was a support query or we needed to transfer a domain with non-current details the turnaround was in the order of weeks.

          I can't comment on this since I've never needed to make a support query.

          However, I have always found that running your own name servers, rather than relying on the registrar's (or anyone else's) does make life a lot easier - you can make changes to your domain immediately instead of waiting around for someone else to do it, you have more chance of the changes being correct (the number of times someone has screwed up when copying and pasting from a change request email is mind-boggling) and you get to do stuff that commercial name servers usually won't let you do (set very low TTLs when shuffling servers around, set up records that aren't just the usual A and MX records, etc).

          The less third parties you have to trust to run services for you, the better off you are.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by birder ( 61402 )
        I've used Joker for a few years and have been happy with the service.
    • Not to be a shill here, but I use Crystal Tech, which resells Melbourne IT and I've been happy with it. YMMV.

      ~S

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      If you really want a cheap one, go for hosterio. It is based in India, and that is almost the cheapest you can get.
    • http://www.montecarlohosting.net/ [montecarlohosting.net]

      I buy all my domains and hosting there. Not the cheapest, but GREAT service.
    • I've always used changeip.com. While they are reselling NS, you don't ever deal with NS. They even let you transfer NS domains to them with no drama.
      The company has been around for a while, the prices are reasonable, the control panels sane, and the support very quick to respond. I've even donated money to them in the past (I was a longtime free ddns user before using paid services).
    • Site5.com offers very simple domain registration if you already have their hosting service. The registration is $8.88/yr, and the hosting is cheap and EXTREMELY fast and reliable.

      You should definitely check it out.

    • Re:I'd rather not buy from the likes of GoDaddy or (Score:5, Informative)

      by neurovish ( 315867 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @09:49AM (#22999564)
      insecure.org put up a nice list at nodaddy.com when their domain was yanked. It looks like it is still there.
      http://nodaddy.com/#alternatives [nodaddy.com]

    • Re:I'd rather not buy from the likes of GoDaddy or (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I go with NearlyFreeSpeech.NET [nearlyfreespeech.net] for domain registration and hosting. If it works for BugMeNot, it's good for me. Plus I host some rather...interesting...content, and they haven't had a problem with it yet.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sconeu ( 64226 )
        Thanks. That looks good, since all I'm looking for is a domain name and email forwarding!

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by Kennith ( 1269512 )
          Careful there. That place has a pretty harsh policy [nearlyfreespeech.net] for what their email servers accept. Granted, it's a good policy, but there is potential for legit mails being bounced (as with any anti-spam measures). Still, if I wanted mail forwarding, I'd use the service. After all, the owner is one of the original spam fighters [jamesfuqua.com] (search for Jeff Wheelhouse), so I'd expect no less of his services. (For you internet young'uns not old enough to have used a real NNTP client for collaboration, this is a great historic
    • I have no figures on how big they are, but I use Surpass Domains. I was oddly attracted to them because their domain registration fees weren't bargain bin cheap. The customer service is nonpareil.
    • I've had nothing but excellence from verio - quite reasonable rates; competent, prompt and corteous (and home-country) tech support; no scams at renewal time; and an easy-to-use web interface.

      Highly recommended, obviously.

    • I just moved my domain from NS to No-IP. I did this after NS preemptively took down the Fitna website. I don't want to be doing business with a registrar that has no qualms about revoking a domain for no valid reason.

      I was already using No-IP for dynamic DNS and found that their management tools are simple and their website is uncluttered (they don't spam every page with ads for the zillions of services like GoDaddy and some of the other big registrars).
    • Easydns.org. It's a Canadian company. I've registered with them for years. Good ethical business with good service.
    • I've always heard good things about pairNIC [pairnic.com] and Gandi [gandi.net]). I use NameCheap.
  • customers were forced to renew with GoDaddy or lose the domain

    So transfer it and then update your info. Although registrars shouldn't get away with this crap, I fail to see how this amounts to more than a minor nuissance.

    Even in the worst-case scenario (changing your info a few weeks before expiration, before realizing you want to transfer), a domain's owner only "loses" a couple bucks at most for using GoDaddy for one more year. Not a big deal, IMO, even if I do fully encourage the spanking of GoDad

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by tokul ( 682258 )

      So transfer it and then update your info
      In order to transfer domain you need auth code and it is sent to administrative email address.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Ariven ( 256118 )
        I just transfered a domain from godaddy yesterday. Since I had originally registered it with them, they had the auth code already, so I didn't need to do anything to get it.

        Funny thing was, I had to check a box that said I agreed that the person I was transferring it to was obligated to accept the 60 day lockdown after the transfer.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by RKBA ( 622932 )
        That's the way it's supposed to work; however, some registrars intentionally violate the rules. For example, BLUEHOST.COM SUCKS TOTALLY because even though I obtained an auth code and sent it to my new registrar, BlueHost still would NOT allow the transfer. I filed a trouble report with them and got back an email saying there was nothing preventing the transfer - hah! Perhaps not, but BlueHost.com never transferred the domain regardless, and I ended up forfeiting the domain and had to switch to another one

    • Re:Just a matter of proper ordering... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @08:20AM (#22998832) Homepage
      when you need to start thinking like this, there's something wrong to begin with.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Talderas ( 1212466 )
      Why spank GoDaddy? I'd rather just spank the advertising girls.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Kibblet ( 754565 )
      They won't even let me transfer after the lockdown. It just won't transfer. So now I paid a new place, and Godaddy, and they are holding it hostage. They also didn't send a renewal notice and didn't charge my card for my more popular domain name, and sold it to a squatter. For whatever reason my firstlastname.com is popular, I guess. And now I don't have it. Squatter has had it for a while, too, I guess it wasn't as popular as they speculated, or they thought that I would pay extra to get my own name
  • Hello

    can anyone please point to a decent non "evil" registrar

    Goddady = bad (see this article)

    Enom = bad ( see http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/09/025222 [slashdot.org] )

    Network solutions ( see http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/23/1914238 [slashdot.org] and http://slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d2=1&sid=00/05/12/2141250 [slashdot.org] and http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/15/2121200 [slashdot.org]

    Anyone?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by david.given ( 6740 )
      I go with gandi.net, who are reasonably price, have decent service, and appear to be fairly white-hat.

    • GratisDNS.dk (Score:2, Informative)

      by wizards_eye ( 1145125 )
      If you speak (or at least understand some) danish, I will highly recommend http://gratisdns.dk/ [gratisdns.dk]

      It is free to move your domain to and use their DNS servers, and you get full control of the DNS records.

      If you want to register a new domain, the prices are very fair.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by JeepFanatic ( 993244 )
      Check out dreamhost.com. I use them for domain names and hosting - reasonable prices, great service (my bandwidth and disk space grows every week for free), and (if this matters to you) they're carbon neutral.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jo42 ( 227475 )

        dreamhost.com ... bandwidth and disk space grows every week for free
        Just try and actually use all that bandwidth and disk space. See what happens then. Purely marketing bull crap.

      • Re:is there any decent non "evil"registrar out the (Score:5, Funny)

        by kalirion ( 728907 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @10:07AM (#22999762)
        and (if this matters to you) they're carbon neutral.

        I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with that alignment. Is that like "True Neutral", or does it lean towards "Lawful" or "Chaotic" ends?
        • Either they are doing it because they like nature, in which case they are probably a druid (and likely true neutral as a result), or they do it because it attracts more customers (and profit), which is a distinctly chaotic neutral trait.

          Better than most companies, which tend towards chaotic evil.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by yasth ( 203461 )
          It means they they plant a tree for every orc they kill.
      • I use dreamhost.com to host my site (which is more of a file store as it has NO html anywhere) but I'm definitely happy with their service.

        Another vote for you to check out dreamhost.com.
        • I had two customers of mine use dreamhost. Both times we tried to upload site changes only to get out of space messages. It appears the hard drives on those servers were full. It was fixed quickly, but still I was not impressed.
    • Register.com is just as expensive as NetSol, but lacking any evil qualities as far as I can tell. Real people answer the phone if you need to call, and are helpful to boot. If your domain is going to expire, you get a PHONE CALL reminding you to renew, after the traditional emails. I have never gotten spammed at the email address I used for registration, aside from the occasional pricing specials or new service announcements.

      Granted, I don't own hundreds of domains, so price isn't a major issue. If it were,

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by db32 ( 862117 )
      nodaddy.com has a nice list.
      I personally use moniker

      • Note that the nodaddy.com site hasn't done a lot of research on the registrars they listed and they warn you about that. It is JUST a list of registrars they have heard good things about.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by db32 ( 862117 )
          Uhm...and asking for registrar advice is somehow expected to provide any more accurate responses?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by geek2k5 ( 882748 )

            One can always hope that people will notice that it is an unresearched list IF a comment is made about it.

    • I just switched from NS to No-IP. So I haven't had my domain with them for very long yet, but I've used their other services (Dynamic DNS) for a long time now.

      I've never read or heard about them doing anything overtly evil (unlike NS or GoDaddy).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by iceT ( 68610 )
      I just used Dynamic Network Solutions, Inc (DYNDNS.COM) as my registrar. Seems pretty good so far.

  • ICANN who is charged with overseeing the Internet

    I thought they were responsible for assigning IP blocks and deciding that ".museum" was a good idea. When did that become "overseeing the internet"?

    • Re:ICANN (Score:4, Informative)

      by ThreeGigs ( 239452 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @08:45AM (#22999004)
      Actually, IP address allocations are handled by ARIN (http://www.arin.net/ [arin.net]) and other regional registries (like RIPE http://www.ripe.net/ [ripe.net]) and the NRO (http://www.nro.net/ [nro.net]). If you consider them the Phone Company, then ICANN is simply the Yellow and White Pages.

      • Re:ICANN (Score:4, Informative)

        by gclef ( 96311 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @10:02AM (#22999710)
        ARIN, RIPE, etc, get their addresses allocated to them from IANA. IANA is run under ICANN (ye, gods, too many acronyms). Basically, they manage the IP addresses of the 'net in much the same way that they manage the DNS of the 'net: they're the high-level policy folks, but not the ones you get numbers or names from.

    • I thought they were responsible for assigning IP blocks and deciding that ".museum" was a good idea. When did that become "overseeing the internet"?

      And DNS. Please, please don't forget DNS.

      "Overseeing the internet" is a good description. A very good one in fact. ICANN, despite its problems, keeps the system from splintering into separate, nation block controlled areas.

      It's also a good description in another sense. When they eventually do get down to censoring the web (for the children), ICANN will be the or

  • GoDaddy and the spam you received today (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Arrogant-Bastard ( 141720 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @07:48AM (#22998692)
    GoDaddy is the single largest registrar of spammers, phishers, and the like. On the surface, that might sound odd, given that GoDaddy has published policies that say they'll take action, but the reality is that those are propaganda, no better. GoDaddy's enforcement of its own policies against abusers has been laughable: it's pretty obvious to everyone that they only do so with reluctance and in the face of bad PR. (See Usenet's news.admin.net-abuse.email for many discussions on this.)

    This really isn't surprising, though: spammers and phishers buy domains by the hundreds, if not thousands, which makes them excellent customers. And if you're GoDaddy, you need that income (among other reasons) to fund your offensively sexist commercials.

    How does this tie in? It's all about profits. Profits for GoDaddy are maximized by selling as many domains as possible and then holding them for ransom. Given how weak and slow ICANN has been, this has been a viable strategy for a number of years; it remains to be seen if something meaningful will actually happen in this case, or whether GoDaddy will just continue cementing its reputation as one of the scummiest registrars out there.

    • The darkly comedic stumblings of ICANN just make a better case for continued government oversight. The simple fact is that the purpose of any business is to make a profit. The methods used to do so vary, but generally stay within reason when real market competition exists. ICANN has no competition and plays an important role in regulating the registrar market. It's actual functioning has been less like a regulatory agency and more like an enabler of abuse. Privatization will solve nothing.

      Even if they

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by JasterBobaMereel ( 1102861 )
      GoDaddy : Silly name that does not describe what they do, Commercials that hide they are a very dull company providing a very menial service

      they talk about "product development" and similar ... but they just sell domain names

      They do not run any Root Nameservers, they do not police the system, they are selling registrations, and nothing else ...

  • Why the hell does anyone ever buy a domain from GoDaddy in the first place? I've heard nothing but bad things about them. Over here in the UK there are about a bajillion places you can get a domain name from, so there must be even more in the US.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by sjwest ( 948274 )

      Beats me 'brand name' ? A european registrar is safer in regard to things european's can do, and american's cannot. The opportunity to holiday in Cuba is one recent example where some european got there domains taken out by the us govt recently.

      My eu registar has a rule that a domain cannot be transfered in the first month after purchase which im cool with and has none of the restrictions Comrade Parsons of godaddy has that im aware of.

  • GoDaddy not the only one (Score:4, Interesting)

    by WebGangsta ( 717475 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @08:04AM (#22998752)

    GoDaddy has long had a policy of 'locking down' domain names for 60 days after a customer updated their contact details

    I ran into this exact same situation a few weeks ago with either Network Solutions or Register.com (we were bouncing back and forth between the two services working on a few different accounts, so my memory is faulty as to which one was the culprit - though I'm leaning towards NetSol). My point is that the issue is not isolated to just GoDaddy.

    We wanted to transfer the account to a different registrar, but the email address on file was one that was no longer active. So we changed the address to one that was active so the transfer messages could arrive correctly, and we were told that there was a hold. Solution: I called and bitched about it. Took about 24 hours, but we were able to bypass the auto lock and move the account successfully. Not the most ideal situation, but at least there was a way around.

    • Re:GoDaddy not the only one (Score:5, Interesting)

      by capnkr ( 1153623 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @08:19AM (#22998826)
      Yes, NS does it too, it has happened to me. BUT...

      If you tell NS that you are trying/going to move the domain due to their (exorbitant) pricing, they will offer you a new price, much more in line with what other registrars like GoDaddy charge ($8.75/yr in my case). So basically, problem solved...

      I do think the lock-down policy is a simple ploy to retain customers, no matter who implements it.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by dj245 ( 732906 )
        The problem with forcibly retaining your customers like this is that it makes them mad, and it doesn't really stop them. They're just going to call your technical support, which costs you money. Is making a couple bucks a year worth the support center time? Especially when you probably have made them more determined to leave? Its not a great way to run a business, and very short sighted.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by capnkr ( 1153623 )
          I agree, dj, but then I remind myself:

          I am a geek/nerd/technologist, but I'd wager that a much, much larger portion of their client base isn't, and so that much larger percentage just goes ahead and pays whatever bill they get in regards to domain costs. A surprising number of people who come to me for web work are still paying NS $35 a year, with no clue that that is a very high price. So, if for some reason they ever find themselves in this situation, they still pay, forgetting the policy and the possibi

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Firehed ( 942385 )
          A couple bucks a year certainly isn't worth it on a per-person basis. However, they've probably got millions of customers. An extra two bucks a domain probably brings in tens if not hundreds of millions of additional revenue. Yeah, that's worth it.

          I just bought a couple domains through GoDaddy (as I'm migrating from my old host, which charges $15/yr/domain among other stupidities) and I'm reasonably satisfied. The idea that they'd charge me to move my existing domains to them is stupid, but I'm sure I c
    • Yes, I'm going through this right now! What a PITA. I think they don't allow you to edit the registrant contact email (though you can edit every other field in that record) for just this reason. 24+ hours after filing a ticket with them, I still have no response.

  • Not just GoDaddy (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @08:05AM (#22998764)
    Network Solutions does this as well. I had to update my e-mail address in my contact information in order to transfer a domain to another registrar. NS locked the domain down for 60 days because of the update. The 60 days would have lasted beyond the expiration of the domain name, meaning I had to renew through NS or risk having someone (possibly NS!) buy it first and charge me more to get it back.

    It took two or three encounters with their support staff and the threat of a complaint to ICANN to get the lock removed so I could continue with the transfer.
  • I have a bad feeling about the future of domain name registration. I fear greed will ultimately win out, and shady practices like lockdowns, and worse, mass squatting like sedo.com will take over completely.

    What can we do about it?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jo42 ( 227475 )
      Start up your own domain registrar. Offer reasonable pricing with DNS services.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pjt33 ( 739471 )
      When I saw your subject I thought you had an idea for a derivatives market based on domain names. That really would be messy.
  • I've had my domains with Go Daddy for about 5 years, and I knew the company was crappy, but I didn't know they were this bad. Plus, every time I visit their website I feel like I need to take a shower. Off to a better registrar [pairnic.com] for me, then. Good riddance.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Skater ( 41976 )
      I've been using Pairnic for several years and haven't had a single problem. When I see stories like this I'm glad I'm with them.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by nawcom ( 941663 )
      I've never registered through GoDaddy; though i do vividly remember the superbowl commercial. That girl having her shirt falling off and yelling out Go Daddy! heh I swear i thought it was some subliminal "ai papi" message or something. Good times.
  • A few people have requested a list of "good" ISPs so they can use them.

    I also advocate a list of "bad" ISPs so we can **avoid** them. Name and shame I say, the nets good for that.

    Its amazing how many business practices seem to be accepted or tolerated on the net that would be frowned upon or a cue for legal action in the real world. its as though virtual assets somehow seem less valuable then real ones, which is obviously not always true.

  • Not everyone hates GoDaddy (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I have two domains with GoDaddy and manage about 6 others and I've never had a single problem with them. Not only did I purchase the domains there, but hosting as well. The single time I had to deal with Support my issue was resolved in about 20 minutes via email. I definitely disagree with the lockdown policy, but its not unique to GoDaddy, nor do I think a governing body should step in. Its called Capitalism. I guess its me versus the masses of techs, as I have no problem with GoDaddy.
  • I have never had to deal with someone hijacking my phone number, and every time I have moved it to a new location or cell carrier it has taken effect in less than a day after requesting it. Why must we put up with a much more chaotic system for domain names?

    As for Godaddy being "evil", I've used them for years, had no trouble tranferring domains in or out, speak to live humans when I need to, and get phone calls from them when domains are expiring or when they have a deal that would actually lower what I pa
    • It's hard to believe, but your comment is the first I've read on this page with anything good to say about GoDaddy. I have about a dozen domains registered thru them, and I've recommended them to friends and family and clients many times throughout the years, often because they were getting ripped-off or defrauded by NSI.

      I've never had a problem with GoDaddy, nor have I *ever* received a complaint. On the contrary, several of those whom I've referred have *compliments* about their service and pricing.

      In abo

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Buran ( 150348 )
        They've been fine for me so far, too, except for their occasional haranguing to update my contact information.

        I haven't moved in years. I live in a house that was my grandparents' and was paid off a long time ago. I have no plans to move now that I've been dumped and am no longer looking for a job to relocate closer to my now-ex boyfriend. I know how to update contact information should I ever move, however.

        And yet they won't stop pestering me from time to time. If they, one more time, send me a "Records in
        • That does sound annoying. A few years ago, I moved three times in a short period, changing my contact info each time, but have stayed put for quite a while (bought a house) and I haven't gotten a single one of those emails.

          However, it was about that time I synchronized the domain renewal dates of all my domains... I dunno. Maybe that may help? There may be some sort of opt-out option hidden deep within their extensive config pages. Good luck!

          On a similar vein (OT, but amusing) I just got an email from Lenov
  • GoDaddy is one of the many horrible registrars. Things are not right when you have to be careful picking a registrar. http://nodaddy.com/ [nodaddy.com] is a great site about the woes GoDaddy.

  • No no no! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Spazmania ( 174582 ) on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @09:19AM (#22999292) Homepage
    As someone whose ass was saved by Network Solutions' lockdown, let me tell you the lockdowns are a Really Good Thing.

    Hackers can break in to your account. It can happen even when you're being careful. A lockdown means that you have time to track down a real human being and get it reversed before the domain is transferred to some registrar in China whose support reps don't even speak English.
  • ICANN is proving itself once again to be a menace to free enterprise and the US government is using it to once again regulate the internet.

    What about foriegn companies who register using GoDaddy, outside the reach of the US? Furthermore, what if the foreign company did no business in the US nor was subject to US taxation? We are back to regulation without representation. I do not see what GoDaddy is doing wrong.

    I have said before ICANN needs to be turned over to an international body or maybe a consortiu
  • They're usually a pretty decent group. Last year they moved against my provider, RegisterFly, which was not only involved in highly dubeus money transactions, but had completely shutdown its techsupport system and was ignoring all clients. I was one of the few trapped by an expiring domain, and wasn't able to get it back for 3 months until the entire block was forcefully moved to GoDaddy, under ICANN's guidence. I have since moved to Server Logistics, a small apple-based service with impecable tech support

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