Whois Via Telephone

[Banned User]

So... I'm crazy we all know that ands it 5:39am since about 1am I have been developing a telephone based whos system where a person can call in and speak/say a domain name and the system will do a instant whois lookup

Insane or what?

edit: once im finished my next project is a entirely phone based domain management system.

 

[mediaspree]

:talk:

 

[Anthony]

Awesome! How does it work? What voice recognition engine does it use? Can we get a sneak preview?

 

[jj2ii3344]

Sounds like a fun project and a profitable one too!
A++ for creativity!
What kind of system are you running to develop the solution??

 

[armstrong]

Sounds to me like you need my domain whois.ph (whois-dot-phone). Call me? :p

 

[Martin23]

to me it seems like a complete stupid idea,


why would some one phone up when they can go to a site?

 

[johnny6]

what sort of voice recognition software will you use? surely you don't have someone sitting at the phone 24 hours a day....

 

[Michau]

Can I just say the domian name or I have to spell it?

 

[Scorpio]

dont think it will be comercial viable.. and what will be the benefit for the same..

Why will someone waste time calling when they can check it for free in a second..

 

[andersdb]

Interesting idea. Its from such work that useful products and services are sometimes developed. Voice interfacing with the web could have potential beyond whois, for mobile phones and maybe those with visual disabilities.

Good luck

 

[Banned User]

The reason? well unlike some of you I am often out in the city with only my blackberry and per se a customer sends me a sms sayng their having issues whatever ... I can then pop my headset on and dial in and whois a domain as pre-troubleshooting while in-route to the datacenter or office.

But more essentially the idea spawned of me developing an anti-fraud suite called WebPhone which allows merchants to either access a site I have developed or call a toll-free to lookup information sent to their merchant gateways.

in example: I can take a suspicious looking order get all the info and either look it up online or call the toll-free and it will let me run checks by IP/Name/Address/ etc and it then in real time checks a dozen databases and runs tests on the information and gives me several risk ratings in addition it can run a credit check in real time.

The system would also allow merchants to report fraud by calling in and entering there WebPhone pin and then speaking a IP/Credit Card #/Date and Reason for reporting it the system will send the information to law enforcement in real-time and cross check it in multiple fraud databases and list it in them.

And finally I also made us a full order verification system (yes there are a lot around) which once a order is completed online the system will call the customer if the order is deemed high risk and a automated system will ask the customer to verify certain information via telephone and it can cross reference it in real time.

:D

The whois will be for customers and I will build a entire WebPhone based domain management system where you can regster, renew, transfer and pay and then change whois and name server info all via phone.

 

[jehnidiah]

I wouldn't go for WebPhone. That name of a company/product is already copyrighted.

Yours ideas are interesting, at least, but you might need to think them through a lot more before even contemplating their release. For example, let me point out a few things:

You said: "The system would also allow merchants to report fraud by calling in and entering there WebPhone pin and then speaking a IP/Credit Card #/Date and Reason for reporting it the system will send the information to law enforcement in real-time and cross check it in multiple fraud databases and list it in them."

Ok, so let's say I have an account with you that I opened up recently. A week later I decide to screw with a customer who just dropped me as their Nethost and decide to submit their credit card through your database that submits it to law enforcement, etc. Now, that customer didn't do anything at all wrong, but if his/her number is listed as being a stolen CC in tons of databases immediately then they are not going to be able to do online (or offline in some instances) purchasing because of some dickhead who used your system to submit their number.

What that sort of system does is essentially *assume* that what is sent is true. Without verification and solid information, the law enforcement is not going to do anything, no decent fraud database is going to accept your claims, and people are going to constantly be considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent, which is a HUGE wrong-doing to them. No one deserves bullcrap like that, and it could be very harmful if they are a businessperson.

Now, the full order verification system is a great idea, but as you said, it's already been done 100 times over and is pretty much perfected as of now. Besides inital cost problems, I see no real reason of developing such a product because the market it, bluntly, pretty worn out and full of these types of things. In short, there's no money left in it unless you're extremely innovative and awesome.

I really, really urge you to think through your thoughts again before you spend a lot of time and/or money on developing something like this. I'm telling you from a very non-biased and straight-forward business point of view, NO ONE is going to buy it with the holes I have just pointed out, and the law enforcement and databases are going to laugh at you for trying to submit data that is not verifiably true. If this worked out, it would be like me going on television and saying, "Britney Spears is a homosexual and has sex with big African tribe leaders" and everyone immediately believing me... it wouldn't happen, because there is no *proof* of this. Do you get where I'm coming from? I'm truly trying to be helpful to you here, so please take no offense to any blunt comments I've said. Everything I'm saying is completely meant to help you out and point you in a better direction than where you're currently heading.

 

[Scorpio]

^ this is the best part of NP... U get Quality Consultancy for Free. Imagine how much a consultant would have charged for this kind of thing..

Sorry for the offtopic post.

 

[Banned User]

^ this is the best part of NP... U get Quality Consultancy for Free. Imagine how much a consultant would have charged for this kind of thing..

Sorry for the offtopic post.

The merchants and clients we handle dont make such bad use of tools and there would be steep fees for using the system. In addition it wont get your card black listed immediatly as it would cross reference with the card issuer themselves so they could verify with the card holder.

I have all that in mind and there are provisions like submission reviewing.

 

[jehnidiah]

That's not what you said up there, though. It said specifically:

"then speaking a IP/Credit Card #/Date and Reason for reporting it the system will send the information to law enforcement in real-time and cross check it in multiple fraud databases and list it in them."

And as for the merchants/clients that you handle not being bad people, etc., that is never fully true and you can't predict the outcome of the future, mate. I thought my best friend was a great, awesome guy, and he screwed my at the time girlfriend. I had complete trust in him 100%, but it kicked me in the arse in the end, didn't it? Be careful of trust bro.

And if you are going to charge steep fees to use the system, no one is going to do it, I don't think. It's too easy, as was pointed out earlier, to just get online and do it. It's not worth 2500 bucks to be able to call a number while in 10mph downtown traffic.

It's awesome to be innovative, but realize you've gotta take critical review (especially when the reviewer is trying to be helpful) into consideration instead of brushing it off. Good luck bud.

 

[Grrilla]

I think a market for this might be w/ computer users who are not tuned in to some of the dynamics of the net, and who aren't familiar w/ whois searches and who are looking for a convenient and familiar way of accessing info. Just my initial reaction. Seems like a very creative innovation that could have some good market potential.

 

[Banned User]

I think a market for this might be w/ computer users who are not tuned in to some of the dynamics of the net, and who aren't familiar w/ whois searches and who are looking for a convenient and familiar way of accessing info. Just my initial reaction. Seems like a very creative innovation that could have some good market potential.

Well the phone based doman registration and management service would definately.

Example: Mary Sue gets asked to renew acmecompany.com... she forgets and its set to expire tommorow... she is on her way home when she decidedes the new phone system would get her out of the bind... she calls enters her pin code and the system then logs in and begns issuing blling commands and ultimately renewing her domain.

Or say your at a bbq with all your geek buddes and your friend pete says something that makes you think up a great idea... you pull out your cell and call and register the domain right away and then update the whois and nameservers all via phone!!!

 

[Mark]

I don't think the technology is Up to this yet - Personally ....

You are designing I guess around the whois your company is using ? I don't know about all this - But very interesting to see how it works out ~ Keep us Informed ~

Good Luck ~

 

[Banned User]

The technology is definately there "voice recognition" is capable of interpreting almost every dialect and language these days and for around 5 to 10 years now large companes and banks have used live interfacing with the web to give account balances and such and change pins.

 

[Peter]

The technology is definately there "voice recognition" is capable of interpreting almost every dialect and language these days and for around 5 to 10 years now large companes and banks have used live interfacing with the web to give account balances and such and change pins.

too true, I have dealt with companies over the phone who use such systems (as many do nowadays) alot of people find it hard to understand my accent and the way I speak but never had a problem with the voice recognition some companines adopt.

 

[9495]

Do it with WAP?

I don't know if I am in the right direction?
You mean call and say the domain. I mean user can use a wap phone to check whois.

If it's the right direction,it's easy to accomplish.

 

[Anthony]

So what technologies and voice recognition programs do you need to put this system together?

 

[primacomputer]

Voice recognition is great for a limited set of commands. For dictating a domain name it will have problems. I have clients call and ask me to register a domain name, and we often have to resort to "M as in Marry". I don't see software doing any better any time soon.

Regardless of the technology used, the "concept" itself is excellent. Many people are simply not in the right place when they think of a name, and having some simple way to check it is invaluable. Being able to check a name and alternatives when you have an idea fresh in your head, or are in a certain state of mind is very useful.

One of the first WAP applications I wrote was a simple whois client, and I have used it countless times. Now a days I have a PDA with a permanent GPRS connection, and can check a name using most any web page. Four or five years ago this simply wasn't available but WAP was a viable alternative.

I have registered dozens of names with this system, and have pocketed well over US$50,000 off of these names alone. Perhaps this is a system that you don't realise that value of it until you use it, but believe me, it has value.

If you are looking to give people access to the system from a normal touch tone phone I have an idea you might be interested in. Given peoples familiarity with SMS and the multi tap input method you could use that. This input method is easy to learn even if you aren't a rabid texter. I remember using it in the mid eightys to issue shell commands, and it worked quite well.