I got in after work this evening to discover 4 letters addressed to me, from the "Domain Registry of America", each labelled "Domain Name Expiration Notice".

Each letter made claim to be notifying me of a domain name registration "due to expire in the next few months".

Interestingly, I don't recall registering these domains (I use eNom). Each domain name is the .info equivalent of one I do own. For example, I own differentpla.net, and one of the letters refers to differentpla.info.

However, when I issue a whois query, it turns out that these .info domains are registered to me.

I know that DRoA are a bunch of scumbags -- they've already been in trouble before.

Should I be concerned? Ordinarily, I'd just ignore these letters. Should I send them to someone? Should I worry about the fact that I appear to own 4 domains that I've not asked/paid for?

Just ignore them...I've gotten those too. They're a scam to get you to pay for more domain names.

I found this quote interesting:

Quote:
DROA is a reseller of domain name registration services for a company called eNom, Inc. (eNom), an accredited registrar of internet domain names, but its doubtful practices were known for a while.

Maybe it's time to switch registrars?

Wow, that's a new one, I've gotten the spam "Your domain is about to expire" from 5 or so competing registrars, but haven't had anything like that happen to me yet. I would probably ignore it, it seems like another scam to me. Just watch your credit report.

Wow, that's pretty damn underhanded. I can't stand these things either. I get them in email and standard mail form, and I seem to be getting them in standard mail from the same company. Whoever they are, they always send me a letter saying two things: my domain registry will expire soon, and I can register with them for $25 a year! I always find it funny that they always send this letter about 8 months before that domain will expire, and I currently pay $15 a year. But hey! Maybe I should do it!

What a waste of paper...

I would continue to suggest Gandi. I've used them for many years now. When I started, they were very inexpensive, somewhat less so now (12 Euros), but I've never once had them do anything untoward. Beyond sending me a couple of emails when my registrations are up for renewal, I never hear from them in any way.

Quote:
don't confirm that they're no longer associated with DRoA

The differentpla.info address was registered by Sipence, Inc. who are at the same address as eNom.

Googling for Sipence returns plenty of references to them buying up .info domains for the .com equivalents owned by eNom customers.

Wow, now domain companies are squating on names they know you'd want. It was bad enough when it was just some a-hole at his PC, now it's corporate policy.

I have a domain with enom as well, and I got that same letter in the mail. I just threw it away cause I didnt have it.

differentpla.info doesn't sound quite right

It's a bit contraversal of them to register extra versions of your domains...

You know, I wonder if you could take them to court for domain squatting... Especially if they're claiming that the domain is registered in your name, that would be theft of your property.

I'm sure you could, but I'm also sure that it would need someone with money to care enough to hire the lawyers. But if you could get a class action suit, I'm sure it would work.

This reminds me of the guy who cashed one of those "this cheque could be yours if you win our sweepstakes" cheques. The company tried to put him through the wringer in all sorts of ways but couldn't actually legally do anything about it. If I remember the story rightly, he ended up giving the money back just because if they finally found any way to get it back and he'd actually used any of it then he'd really be in deep marketing. Taking DNoA to court would probably be similar - they'd try to harass you in all sorts of quasi-legal ways until you coughed up one way or another. They wouldn't be able to stand the bad publicity, never mind the loss of money.

Oh well...

Paul, who feels that the fundamental problem with the world is that ethics is now a purchasable commodity.

.info and .biz were supposed to be the next big thing and there was that massive grab for them at the beginning. Nobody really cares now it seems

Sorry, yes, bank not company. The point here is that these companies can and harass people in many ways, some more obnoxious and difficult to counter than others, if they think that they're going to get their money and/or property back. And you only have to look at the stupidity ICANN is going through with the .net domain registrar process to realise that the business of domain names is just as sticky and murky as any other.

As an aside, I often wonder one things about that Man 1 Bank 0 story. Firstly, why the second bank refused to honour the cheque the first bank had credited. It was a legal instrument and everything in the story confirms this. Though I wished Patrick had got a lawyer and fought (and, almost certainly, won the right to his ~$95,000), I can understand him not wanting to go through the hassle, especially if he can't pay a lawyer up front.

And this is why the legal system is blatantly unfair.

Paul