services GoDaddy Comments About Selling Its Customer Information (They Don't)

[EJS]

I receive a ton of spam emails, text messages, and even mail that I suspect are from people harvesting Whois information. I have seen people accuse GoDaddy of selling their information, so I reached out to the company to see if they could comment on this and let people know whether or not they sell customer info. Someone from GoDaddy's legal team issued a statement to me about this, and as I suspected, the company does not sell customer information:

http://www.domaininvesting.com/godaddy-does-not-sell-customer-information/

 

[Kate]

It's very simple. Everybody can see new (and deleted) registrations (by looking at the zone files for instance). That's what spammers do: detect new regs, scrape whois, and start spamming.

 

[offthehandle]

http://domainnamewire.com/2017/05/16/use-google-voice-stop-annoying-robocalls-texts/

This was published as a solution for phone calls.

 

[Ategy]

Does anyone know if this statement extends to and includes "anonymized" data?

Specifically domain searches ... in that a list of searched domains we have done might be sold without our names attached to the domains ... but the end result still hurts us if those domains are registered by the party that paid for the data before we bother to purchase the domain. Or even they could technically use that data themselves which wouldn't be selling our data, but still potentially have the exact same effect.

I know they definitely log domain searches as I regularly get annoying emails offering a discount on those very domains I recently searched for. The worst part is that the discounts always end up being more expensive then the prices I already get when I subscribed to their Discount Domain Club!

Certainly don't want to single out godaddy here .. as I'm also curious about other registrars .. and the only reason I only care more about if goDaddy does it, is simply because it's the registrar I use most (nothing personal GD .. lol).

 

[ddfenton]

I'm in the process of getting scammed by a guy in Germany in charge of authorize-name.NET - a "certification" and appraisal service. Maybe escrow. Back in Sept 2016- there were threads on NP of same scam but at authorize-name.COM (for sale now). My guy also has another company listed -domainverification.com. Just from 5 min. of sleuthing.

They wanted a list of all my names. So far no money is mentioned but both sites all sites in fact, are registered and run on GoDaddy. Maybe this is simply "an information scam." They can see when each domain is going to expire, besides names, etc. My guy contacted me via whois - sidestepping Sedo where it's listed/parked at $1800. They were offering 15-20K. Why hasn't go daddy done anything about this? I can't imagine one of the posters in the sept thread didn't write to [email protected].

Couple days ago a namePros member claimed to have been scammed for $40K for a stolen domain. GoDaddy held the account, escrow.com and Sedo were involved. The person is a known entity and marches forward with other sales. Profile is on whois. According to these postings. My junk mail has increased as well, mostly from web developers - many overseas. And then today .... by the way - just corrected spell check which had written GodDaddy.

 

[ddfenton]

domainverification.com is on sale with BuyDomains.com

 

[ddfenton]

from Name Pros Feb 2016- https://www.namepros.com/threads/wa...natching-up-customers-expired-domains.918567/

 

[Branko Jovanovic]

If you pay for privacy protection then registrar is selling. Not a thing to be taken lightly. I would look for smaller registrar with better security policy.

 

[ddfenton]

Folks, please pay attention.

On March 23, 2017, congress passed a resolution overturning an FCC rule that required internet providers to get customers’ permission before sharing their browsing history with other companies. The rules also required internet providers to protect that data from hackers and inform customers of any breaches. What this means is that ISP's can legally sell your data without your permission.

On the table now is the GOP sponsored, S.993: a bill prohibiting the Federal Communications Commission from reclassifying broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service and from imposing certain regulations on providers of such service. Aka as "the Restoring Internet Freedom Act," it will forbid the FCC from being able to declare internet service providers as Title II common carriers, essentially negating the Open Internet Order. (Some?) ISPs would gain the freedom to block and throttle websites and applications.

Among other things this means carte blanche, speedier access for big business (I am speculating that the ability to pay may not be the only discriminating factor) and limited access (perhaps even specifically limited access contingent on ... ???) for everyone else.

Regardless of what your politics are or are not, the fact that it is even in the realm of a political firing line, specifically PARTISAN politics, should be a tip off that this isn't a good idea.

Here's a recent article, Only Congress, Not the FCC, Can Fix Net Neutrality, that upon brief perusal seemed neutralist, and Don't Freak Out about the FCC's Approach to Net Neutrality.

I urge everyone to support the internet (I'm specifically averting the word "freedom," because there are those who would argue that any government regulation flies in the face of that) which
perhaps the last foothold of an even playing field, which by the way, any savvy business leader, proponent of "free enterprise," and maybe even a few Ayn Rand aficionados, would agree is good for business.

 

[ddfenton]

I know for me, this will SUCK.

 

[Ategy]

@ddfenton .. I completely agree with you that most if not all the issues you mentioned are EXTREMELY important .. and that attention should be brought to them .. however I think it's a little off topic for this thread. I have a lot of issues with GoDaddy .. lol .. but I think it's unfair to pile all these things into a thread that makes it seem like a single registrar is being singled out.

Maybe talk to a moderator about moving the specific posts into a new thread that focuses on the real issues without painting GoDaddy as the bad guy (unless there's proof they are specifically doing everything bad you've mentioned)

 

[ddfenton]

sorry - this wasn't specific to go daddy and you're right - its more all industry related. The point is/was that EVERYONE can sell your data legally without your permission. It would make sense for all businesses to take advantage of that at this point.

 

[Paul Nicks]

Does anyone know if this statement extends to and includes "anonymized" data?

Specifically domain searches ... in that a list of searched domains we have done might be sold without our names attached to the domains ... but the end result still hurts us if those domains are registered by the party that paid for the data before we bother to purchase the domain. Or even they could technically use that data themselves which wouldn't be selling our data, but still potentially have the exact same effect.

I know they definitely log domain searches as I regularly get annoying emails offering a discount on those very domains I recently searched for. The worst part is that the discounts always end up being more expensive then the prices I already get when I subscribed to their Discount Domain Club!

Certainly don't want to single out godaddy here .. as I'm also curious about other registrars .. and the only reason I only care more about if goDaddy does it, is simply because it's the registrar I use most (nothing personal GD .. lol).

We do not sell or publish domain searches. We do use that data to send followup emails, but we're the only ones who have access. To give up access to our searches would effectively be giving our competition a mountain of data that we see as valuable and proprietary. So, there is no solid business reasoning why we'd ever want to do that.

 

[ddfenton]

Agree and appreciate! That it is legally possible for others to do so is of concern. I believe this could discourage "healthy" competition in support of monopolies. On the other hand, maybe it will simply become a sort of open source for marketing. Just a shoot from the hip opinion, as is the below.
The fact that the term information capital has been bandied about for 25 plus years (I think coined by McKinsey but can't confirm), that tons of consultancies "mine data" and corporations pay for "scientific" strategies to "interpret" big data to harness its power, it stands to reason that the "capital" in "information" that assumes a proprietorship, may be overlooked. Especially by those looking to make a quick buck or players cornering the market.

 

[Shianna-EBN]

I honestly don't think any registrar is crazy enough to sell their customers data. I do agree strongly that these whois scrappers are absolutely ridiculous and need to be stopped, but its not a single registrar's fault unless they actually compile a list and sell it containing newly register dom's and their respective contact details. I know there has been several registrars that have admitted to selling domain search lists to large domain buying services but those are just companies that are struggling to earn money and resort to screwing customers.

 

[ddfenton]

Don't browsers have access to that all information?

 

[namezest]

Did they tell you they can sell the whois info? As icann allows it but limits the sales to $10,000.00 Per Annum. That is to say you are not allowed to charge a customer more than $10,000.00 per year for full whois records. As with all things involving financial gain, I think it naive to presume any registrar does not make an income from whois records. The whois records ask you not to use the information for profit, why then is there a $10,000.00 cap on the sales of whois records?