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Crowdstrike incident: Client update

20 July 2024 13:24:51 +0000

After a very trying day for many customers around the world that use Microsoft Windows or rely on companies that use Microsoft Windows — like Hotmail/Outlook.com, Office 365, Google Cloud / Compute Engine, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, etc., etc., etc. — we would like to take this opportunity to ensure that our clientele know that we were wholly unaffected by the worldwide chaos.

Is this blog post an opportunistic jab at people who rely on an operating system and company that was late to realise the potential of the Internet? Yes, of course. Why? Well, just look at the trouble that Microsoft gave us last month, and are still giving us today. Microsoft are not our favourite people these days, even though Microsoft themselves weren’t responsible for the Crowdstrike failure.

Hey, we get it, shi … stuff happens. Our status blog currently shows 207 posts in the “incidents” category since 2009. Of course, that’s not 207 failures; at the very most it’s 104 failures if you assume a post announcing an incident and a second announcing it’s over, but in reality some incidents had multiple posts and some posts were only to alert clients to issues with other companies. I’d say that there were far fewer than 100 incidents in fifteen years; feel free to do the maths and check our live uptime monitor for yourself. But one does wonder how an update was pushed out by Crowdstrike without it being tested. That’s just unfathomable. On the other hand, NinerNet doesn’t check every single update we apply to our servers, but we have to rely on our operating system vendors to do that for us. As Crowdstrike customers and their customers found out yesterday, the IT world is very interdependent.

Of course, NinerNet will almost certainly have some major incident in the future, and I know that some will then say that this post will come back to bite us in the ass. Not really. I’m always amused when an incident happens and people say or claim, “We will learn and it will never happen again!” That cracks me up. Incidents — whether they are global IT meltdowns or plane crashes — are almost always human-caused. So yeah, it will happen again, and NinerNet will have some issue at some time in the future and we will learn from it and promise that we will take steps to prevent it from happening again. But we have never and will never claim that it will never happen again.

The other purpose of this post is for marketing. The word “marketing” is a four-letter word to me, simply because about the only skill that marketers have is the ability to lie, with a straight face. I certainly wouldn’t accuse Microsoft or Crowdstrike of any kind of over-marketing or marketing subterfuge but, you know, there’s a part of me that looks askance at claims made by companies that over-promise and under-deliver … and over-promising and under-delivering are pretty much the meat and potatoes of marketers! It is far beyond my remit to determine whether or not either Microsoft or Crowdstrike have ever over-promised or under-delivered, but yesterday under-delivery was rampant.

Update, 2024-07-24: I wasn’t planning to drive home any of my points above, but I was cleaning up some open browser tabs and there were a few Crowdstrike-related tabs still open.

At “Helping our customers through the CrowdStrike outage” Microsoft proudly states, “We currently estimate that CrowdStrike’s update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one percent of all Windows machines.” Umm, so? Your point is? What they fail to state here is that those 8.5 million Windows devices affected many, many more millions (a billion?) of poor saps who rely on companies that rely on Crowdstrike that relies on Microsoft’s crappy operating system. It reminds me of a saying: “Figures don’t lie, but liars sure as hell can figure!”.

George Kurtz, CEO of Crowdstrike, also stated in a tweet, “Today was not a security or cyber incident. Our customers remain fully protected.” This statement is freaking hilarious! If you can’t turn on your “Windows device”, of course it’s “fully protected”! OMG, this is one for the comedy annals!

Browsing through Mr. Kurtz’s Twitter feed you see a lot of the aforementioned “marketing”:

* Wow… another great quarter in the books for $CRWD.
* $CRWD delivered a strong 2Q23 with record $218M net new ARR, $2.14B ending ARR, record net new customers & $136M free cash flow.
* $CRWD delivered record Q4 results.

*yawn*

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Shaw continues to have problems receiving email

17 August 2022 11:36:57 +0000

We’ve posted countless times now about this, and really, this is likely to be the last time. Shaw’s email filtering sub-contractor continues to block legitimate email from NinerNet servers. This legitimate email includes messages from banks, universities and the like. We’re not talking about spam here, but legitimate financial and business email.

As we’ve said before, we strongly advise that you do not use automatic forwarding of all messages. There are actually very few, limited circumstances under which this is necessary. If you’re not clear on why, please contact us to ask and we’ll be happy to discuss this with you. There may be something related to email you’re not fully understanding.

In other Shaw-related news, NinerNet was not affected by the Rogers outage last month. This is Shaw-related because Rogers will very likely be taking over Shaw, which means that future Rogers outages will be spread, like a virus, to the Shaw system too. Thankfully, none of NinerNet’s systems rely on Shaw or Rogers at all. This is a design choice that we made long ago.

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Significant recent spam activity

16 March 2022 02:30:11 +0000

In the last 48 hours we have seen a significant increase in the number of email accounts that have been compromised due to the virus infection of a large number of our clients’ machines and/or devices. In one case that we know of, one of our resellers stated that they “have a company wide nightmare [of] machines spamming each other and everyone they have ever talked to via email.” This is not good. They have been working with their client to get a handle on this, and as of Tuesday their time this issue seems to be under control for them.

However, since then we have had multiple other email accounts compromised on multiple domains. Please note that email accounts are “compromised” when the machine or device on which the account is configured is infected with a virus. This is not under the control of NinerNet, but you and your employees and colleagues. Please ensure that you have updated anti-virus programs or apps installed, and please do not open attachments from unknown senders. Even attachments from known senders must be treated with extreme care, because viruses tend to come from other infected machines, and they could be the machines or devices of people you know.

Some reminders for all clients:

  • Please ensure you have anti-virus software (or an app) installed on all machines (computers) and devices (phones/tablets),
  • Please only open attachments after they have been scanned for viruses,
  • Please be extra careful of attachments sent from unknown senders, and
  • NinerNet’s mail server scans incoming and outgoing messages for viruses, but if the vendor of the software isn’t aware of the existence of the virus it may get through. If you also have anti-virus software installed, then that additional scan could make the difference between a normal day and an expensive day you’d rather forget.

At this point it looks like we nipped these outbreaks in the bud, so our mail servers are not in any additional blacklists. However, please do contact NinerNet support if you have any issues with outgoing email, or if you have any questions.

Thank-you.

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Categories: Notices, Warnings
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Upcoming changes to mail servers

20 December 2020 12:52:47 +0000

The email world is constantly evolving. More to the point, spam is a never-ending arms race. We have made some changes to our email system, and in the New Year we will be making more.

So far all we have done is add a second alternative route for outbound emails. This gives us (and our clients) a third possible point from which emails can be delivered to your recipients. This action is the result of our data centres’ IP addresses finding themselves in more blacklists as a result of poor management, and the bad behaviour of their other customers.

Our use of this service will result in some very minor changes to the headers of some of these emails when viewed by the recipients. Almost nobody pays any attention to the headers of emails until there is a problem, but we are telling our clients this in advance so that you are aware of it.

There is nothing you need to change in your email programs or apps. The only thing you need to do is forward errors to us if a bounce message for an email you have sent refers to being blocked, as opposed to the destination address not existing or being full. If your email was blocked we can divert future emails to that domain via an alternative route. This option has always been available, but for the reason stated above we’re getting more reports now than in the past.

That addresses an immediate issue. Plans were already in progress for a scheduled upgrade to our primary mail server, but now they have an additional focus: We will be setting up a new mail server in another data centre where the reputations of their IP addresses are an explicit priority.

This plan will probably protect NinerNet for a couple more years. However, with the way the email world is moving, there are some predictions that all IP addresses will eventually be blocked from sending email except for a select few. I don’t believe I need to explain how this will concentrate power over email in the hands of a few, and how detrimental this will be, so we expect that reputable data centres will oppose this. Those are the kinds of data centres we want to work with, but we will maintain accounts with third-party relay providers just in case.

We will be posting more on the subject of email, specifically details of our migration, and information you need to know to ensure that your email will not be considered spam, either by us, our spam filters or your customers.

Please contact NinerNet support If you have any questions or concerns. Thank-you.

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Mail server in and out of capricious blacklist

10 March 2020 02:33:48 +0000

As you’re aware, we work hard to ensure that our mail servers do not get into blacklists. On the rare occasion that one of our IP addresses is blacklisted, we investigate the cause of the problem, fix the problem (often a client with a compromised machine) and (if possible) try to have our IP address removed from the blacklist. Often though, manual removal from the blacklist is unnecessary, as modern, well-maintained blacklists are automated, and offending IP addresses are removed very soon after they no longer show any signs of sending spam.

It’s not often any more that we run into old-style blacklists — blacklists that are poorly maintained, that blacklist huge swathes of the Internet, or that offer no discernible removal process — but there are still some of them out there. Not many are used by mail servers that accept email on behalf of any sizeable number of users, but we have run into one that happens to fit that exact trifecta: urbl.hostedemail.com.

This blacklist is used by Hostedemail(.com), a subsidiary of OpenSRS/Tucows. Good luck getting to their website though, as one doesn’t exist. Their email hosting service is a white-label service sold by their resellers, and they don’t even have a way for other mail server administrators to contact them, to search their blacklist or ask to be taken out of it.

Thankfully though, we are still hanging onto our own long-established reseller account with OpenSRS, and we contacted them about this block of our (non-resold) primary mail server (NC036). We first did this in February when we noticed that email from some clients was being blocked with this error message:

host mx.DOMAIN.com.cust.a.hostedemail.com[216.40.42.4] refused to talk to me: 554 5.7.1 Service unavailable; Client host [178.62.195.26] blocked using urbl.hostedemail.com; Your IP has been manually blacklisted

(It was the reference to being “manually blacklisted” that really got our attention, as this is a hallmark of the aforementioned poorly maintained blacklists.)

OpenSRS responded quickly, and we were removed from the blacklist within about eight hours. But we were surprised to see, a couple of weeks later in March, that we were blacklisted again, so we contacted OpenSRS yet again. The response this time was much slower, but we have again been removed. This time, however, we pressed for an explanation for the block, as we are not listed in about 300 other blacklists that are more widely used. This is part of their response:

I am just replying back on the RBL listing you inquired about and I can confirm the IP was once again de-listed but I did get some additional information for you as requested. I needed to do a bit of checking but the IP 178.62.195.26 is provided by RIPE Network Coordination Centre, the IP assigned to the user by the hosting provider carries the reputation of the rest of the CIDR. The nature of VPS/Shared IPs is to be disposable …. But of course for the time being we have de-listed the IP but assuming nothing changes its [sic] likely it will be listed again in the future.

This kind of outdated thinking is another of the hallmarks of old-style blacklists: blacklisting half of the Internet based on some outmoded way of thinking that died off around the end of the twentieth century. Essentially, Hostedemail.com is blacklisting all IP addresses in major data centres around the world, which is very counterproductive for their own customers.

We’ll be contacting individual clients whose emails were blocked by this blacklist to point them to this post, and we recommend that if your email is blocked with the above message you contact your correspondent by some other means to advise them to move to a more enlightened mail service provider.

Update, 2019-03-19: Our primary mail server is again blacklisted by this one mail provider in the world out of about 300 major blacklists we have checked. OpenSRS/Tucows/Hostedemail warned us this would happen, so we’re not surprised. We can take no further logical action against an illogical practice. We’re sorry to those clients who are affected, but we again suggest that you tell your correspondents to move to an email service provider that doesn’t run their mail servers based on practices from the last century.

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Domain management case study: Barriere Chamber of Commerce

18 January 2016 02:34:27 +0000

In the news recently (CBC and The Vancouver Sun) it was revealed that the Barriere (and District) Chamber of Commerce lost one of their domains (barrierechamber.com, apparently their primary one judging by its position in the results in web searches) because they did not renew it, and “logged in as usual” one day to find that said domain redirected to a pornographic website. As of this writing it’s redirecting to a non-pornographic website, but in the CBC article you can see a somewhat sanitised screenshot of the original website that caused such a furore.

Executive summary (or tl;dr)

As it says in the “Domain drop catching” article at Wikipedia, “It is incumbent on registrants to be proactive in managing their name registrations and to be good stewards of their domain names. By law there are no perpetual rights to domain names after payment of registration fees lapses, aside from trademark rights granted by common law or statute.” In the words of the Chamber’s administrator, “It was messed up on our end.” The above article does also state that “Unless the original registrant holds a trademark or other legal entitlement to the name, they are often left without any form of recourse in getting their domain name back”, but simply paying attention can save you a whole lot of time and heartache, not to mention money in legal fees.

There may be a glimmer of hope for the Barriere Chamber though. See the “Godaddy complicity” section for details on what action they may be able to take.

Asset management and laziness

This situation brings up so many issues (hence the length of this post), not just technological issues but simple issues of asset management. I’m not an expert at managing a chamber of commerce, but there are lessons here that we can all learn, starting with (as just described) the fact that your domain is an asset, and should be treated as such. If you don’t manage your assets properly — if you leave them out in the rain, leave them unprotected, or let them expire — you’re going to lose them, plain and simple. So don’t let your domain expire — and don’t leave it out in the rain either, for that matter.

One of my pet peeves these days is the sheer laziness that has started to overtake the human race. People apparently don’t want to think, as that is all that the marketing departments of just about every business on the planet seem to be focused on these days. Even car advertisements on television nowadays seem to feature the laziest, dumbest drivers on the planet, drivers who apparently can’t even manage to stay in their own lane and need a car that can think about it and do it for them, driver’s who (quite frankly) should not be licensed to drive.

And it’s even worse in the technology industry where — by it’s very nature — the technology can do much of the thinking and remembering for you. And so it’s incredibly frustrating to read some “expert” (in this case Hasan Cavusoglu of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business) advise that people like the Barrier Chamber of Commerce “could have protected itself by paying for an extended amount of time to own the domain name because registrars provide such options.” While most registrars and hosting companies (including NinerNet) offer modest discounts on multi-year domain registrations, this only exacerbates the potential problem of forgetting to renew your domain by putting off having to think about renewing it on an annual basis. Whether you’re registering a domain for a business or for your own personal blog, what actual process have you put in place to ensure that you will remember when your domain expires? Registering it for ten years is not going to help you if, by the time the ten years is up, you’ve completely forget about it or who you even registered it with in the first place! It’s your asset; do not rely on someone else (your domain registrar, hosting company, web designer or anyone else) to be more concerned about your asset that you are!

According to The Vancouver Sun article, “Virginia Smith [the mayor] said the chamber in Barriere believed the domain name was automatically renewed”. This contradicts what the Chamber’s administrator (Marie Downing) stated in the CBC article: “It was messed up on our end. We missed the renewal during the holiday season.” Either way, someone was asleep at the switch when it came to managing this particular asset of the Barriere Chamber of Commerce. Also of note is that, according to the WHOIS record for barrierechamber.com as of 14 January 2016 (more on that in a moment when I’ll take aim at the domain registrar, Godaddy, and their complicity in this situation), the domain’s anniversary date is actually 30 November which, by my definition, is well before the so-called holiday season. By the time the holiday season rolled around the domain had been expired for almost a month and was rapidly approaching the “Redemption Grace Period“, by which time it is assumed that the average domain registrant has noticed that their domain has expired and stopped working! Which makes the mayor’s statement about her staff logging in “as usual” one day “only to find the ‘horrible’ content” all the more perplexing; did they not try to “log in” (she’s almost certainly using that term incorrectly) the day before and for the many days before that only to see that the website was not available?

I hate to be the one to break this news to the world, but computers are fallible. Sometimes, when they’re supposed to do things automatically, they don’t. I work with computers every day, and I know that they make mistakes or break. Even if you have your domain set to renew automatically — or anything else done automatically by a computer — check to make sure that it was actually done.

“A domain is for life”

On the topic of registering and renewing domains, I always tell clients that “a domain is for life”, echoing the cliché that “a puppy is for life” (or whatever pet you want to substitute for “puppy”) that you sometimes hear around Christmas when animal protection agencies discourage thoughtless acquisition of animals as presents for kids. If you let a domain expire some opportunist is almost certainly going to snap it up the minute it does. A whole sub-industry revolves around this very activity. In many cases those people want the domain for what most people would consider reasonably legitimate use; for example, I recently snapped up fotocuba.com when it expired because I have a business idea for which this domain would be a good fit. However, everyone has different definitions of “legitimate use”, and many people just want to “monetise” a domain (that they think may be receiving a decent amount of traffic) for advertising. Some of that advertising may unfortunately revolve around pornography, get-rich-quick schemes and questionable medical claims.

Is the new registrant of barrierechamber.com trying to “extort” almost $10 000 from the previous registrant, for “a $20 domain”, as is claimed in The Vancouver Sun article? Not likely. Some people may not like the business model used by the new registrant, but unless the Chamber is somehow obligated to pay the money (they’re not) then it’s not extortion; it’s the free market at work, where one party has an asset and another would like to have that asset. If the latter party cannot afford that asset, then that’s a shame. A friend of mine has a very nice aeroplane that I’d like to own, but if the price at which she is willing to sell it to me is more than I can afford (it most certainly would be!), is she trying to extort money from me? No. So back to my “a domain is for life” maxim: if you don’t want to pay a ridiculous price to get back what was once your own asset, don’t lose it! If you don’t want some idiot to use what was once your domain in ways you would find objectionable — perhaps even “[creating] a replica of [your] original website” (as is correctly stated by Cavusoglu) to mislead your customers or members, or to collect all of the email sent to what was your domain — then don’t let your domain expire! If you don’t want to lose customers because they think you’ve gone out of business because your website and email are down, then renew in time!

Managing multiple domains

Barriere & District Chamber of Commerce Facebook page, 2016-01-16.

Barriere & District Chamber of Commerce Facebook page, 2016-01-16

This is where things get a bit more complicated, requiring some skill in investigating connections between domains and companies — connecting the dots and following the breadcrumbs — and gazing into a crystal ball that shows you the muddied the past. You can pay to have some of that past un-muddied, but I’m too cheap to do that in this case.

As alluded to above, the Barrier Chamber of Commerce apparently owns/owned (or, to be legally precise, is/was the registrant of) multiple domains. In addition to previously being the registrant of barrierechamber.com, their website currently loads at barrierechamberofcommerce.com. Bizarrely — and in yet another example of incredibly poor domain and web presence management — their apparent Facebook page (such as it is) has a link in their “about” box to barrieredistrict.com! (At least the advertising on that isn’t pornographic, as of this writing.) According to the current WHOIS information for this domain (the WHOIS information as of this writing for all of these domains is reproduced below) it was registered on 17 December 2015 by a registrant in Japan. The current registrar is DropCatch.com 828 LLC, and as suggested by the common contact information for dropcatch828.com and namebright.com and on the DropCatch.com 828 LLC web page itself, they’re a “partner” of NameBright — essentially a subsidiary of NameBright, as the former is almost certainly set up as a distinct registrar (as are dozens of other numbered LLCs [e.g., DropCatch.com 1029 LLC, DropCatch.com 1030 LLC, etc.]) as part of a pool to give NameBright greater access to the domain registry for acquiring “dropping” domains the second they are deleted by the registry.

Assuming barrieredistrict.com was indeed previously registered by the Barriere Chamber (it certainly looks like it was, according to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine), this means that the domain actually expired around the 28th or 29th of September 2015. Did the Chamber intentionally let it expire, or did they screw up the renewal of that domain too, only a couple of months before barrierechamber.com expired? What is their overall domain management strategy? Do they even have a domain management or web presence strategy? Would they know what such a strategy might look like if it walked up to them on Barriere Town Road and slapped them in the face? According to the CBC article, “Downing notes that the chamber still has ownership of several other similar domain names …”. Really? Who advised you to register multiple domains? I’m not saying that doing so is a bad idea, but that advice was clearly incomplete and badly implemented.

Looking further at the WHOIS information, I note that both barrierechamber.com and barrierechamberofcommerce.com were registered on 30 November 2013. (See the “Godaddy complicity” section below for more comments on dates.) If that was the case, how come barrierechamberofcommerce.com was renewed and barrierechamber.com was not? Or had they both been expired for several weeks without that fact being noticed, and only barrierechamber.com was snapped up by the new registrant? That’s a question only the Chamber can answer.

Without going further down the investigative rabbit hole, I don’t know if the Barriere Chamber of Commerce owns any other domains (other than the two they have lost and the one they have managed to hold onto), but this is where some professional help would come in handy. It’s all very well to pay some cheap hosting company $4.95 a month for your cheap and nasty website, but if your website and general web presence (in which I’d include your Facebook page) are important to you, why would you not contract with a professional to manage it? Would you manage the plumbing in your house without any professional assistance? Just because you can successfully operate a tap, send an email or type a document in a word processor does not mean you know everything there is to know about managing your plumbing, website or domain properly. I’ve been in the business for twenty years and I’m still learning! Judging by some changes to their website in the last 24 hours it does look like the Chamber might have got some decent advice — especially to do with getting their new domain into the search results to replace the now-compromised domain — but it’s only a start.

Godaddy complicity

It’s usually unbecoming of a company to bad-mouth their competitors, but Godaddy and its founder are big and legitimate targets, quite used to (not shy of and often court) criticism, and not in the least bit threatened by the existence of NinerNet or our calling them out. Godaddy can afford to saturate the market with television advertising featuring sexually suggestive Playboy models; NinerNet, to our chagrin, cannot.

Anyway, Godaddy is well known for engaging in the practice of “Domain name warehousing“. (They’re not the only ones but, as I say, they’re a big target.) Normally when a domain expires and is re-registered by someone else, the WHOIS record changes to reflect this. If you look at the WHOIS information for the domain (fotocuba.com) that I said earlier that I recently acquired, you’ll see the following information:

Creation Date: 10-jan-2016

Since the old registration was allowed to expire completely — i.e., the domain expired, it entered the “redemption grace period” about 45 days later and was deleted by the registrar, it then entered the “pending delete” period about 30 days later, and was finally “dropped” 5 days later by the registry to be re-registered by the first comer — the “creation date” is the start of the new registration of fotocuba.com when I acquired it about a week ago. (There are tools you can use to see a website and domain’s history, including DomainTools.com and the aforementioned Internet Archive Wayback Machine.)

In the case of barrierechamber.com you’ll notice that the “creation date” is still that of when the domain was presumably originally registered by the Barriere Chamber:

Creation Date: 30-nov-2013

How is that if barrierechamber.com has supposedly been allowed to expire and is newly acquired by the current registrant (Al Perkins of Jersey) that the creation date at the registry is still 30 November 2013? This is almost certainly because, as the “Domain name warehousing” article points out, “Instead of letting [some] domains … expire, GoDaddy takes control of … those domains, after the registrant — GoDaddy’s customer — allows them to lapse, even before the end of the redemption period.” (In fact, as barrierechamber.com expired on 30 November 2015, it would have been scheduled to enter the Registration Grace Period on 14 January 2016, the day this story hit the news.) The new registrant then acquired that domain, probably at a premium (i.e., not just the $20 referred to by Downing, but probably less than the $9700 the new registrant wants for it), directly from Godaddy without the domain actually being “dropped” (deleted) by the registry. In other words, as far as the registry is concerned, the current registration is still the same one that began on 30 November 2013, even if the registrant has changed.

Plus I suspect that when someone in Barriere “logged in” one day to see some unexpected skin, they realised what had happened and very quickly paid the redemption fee for barrierechamberofcommerce.com (which was also originally registered on 30 November 2013, but was probably not attractive enough for anyone to acquire as barrierechamber.com was) and got that back online. Crisis averted … almost.

I (and many other people) don’t condone what Godaddy does, but it’s a loophole allowed by the rules dictated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, more commonly known as ICANN, which is the organisation ultimately responsible for managing the world’s domains. Godaddy is not the only registrar that takes advantage of this, but combined with all of their other questionable activities, domain registrants and potential domain registrants should think twice before registering domains with them, especially if they (the said registrants, or owners) are not going to pay attention to the expiry dates of their domain — their asset. While I decried laziness and not taking responsibility for your assets near the start of this epistle, smaller companies like NinerNet are more likely to pick up the phone and call you if you’ve let your domain expire, before it’s too late. Godaddy, on the other hand, can’t wait to make a buck from your laziness and inattention.

Without reading Godaddy’s 28-page legal agreement and the 32 other linked documents which are included, there may be happy ending to this for the Chamber. As mentioned above, because barrierechamber.com expired on 30 November 2015 it was scheduled to enter the Redemption Grace Period on 14 January 2016. As such, unless the registrant’s agreement with the registrar legally supersedes the registrar’s agreements with the registry and ICANN (I am not a lawyer and don’t know if it does), the Barriere Chamber may be able to simply pay Godaddy their redemption fee and get their domain back, whereupon Godaddy would refund the new registrant to whom they sold the domain what they paid Godaddy. However, this is based on my broad understanding of the way Godaddy and other registrars handle these types of sales, and information in the “Domain name warehousing” Wikipedia article. Of course, no sane person would ever base a legal action on the contents of a Wikipedia article or a blog post by some stranger on the Internet, but you and the Barriere and District Chamber of Commerce can do what you will with that information.

Lessons to be learned

What can the Barriere and District Chamber of Commerce and the rest of us learn from their unfortunate experience?

  • THINK!: First of all, especially if you’re going to register multiple domains for a single website, come up with a coherent plan for their use and management. Even if you only register one domain, keep a record somewhere — even if it’s a handwritten record in a diary with your family’s birthdays and anniversaries — of the expiry date of your domain.
  • EMAIL ADDRESS: For very good reason and because of poor management of the WHOIS system by ICANN and most registries, it’s not unusual for people to use a throw-away email address — often at some free webmail provider — as the contact address for their domain record. Don’t do that. OK, fine, do that if it’s a personal domain, but don’t do it if your domain is for a company. Create an email address on your own domain (Gmail and Hotmail are *not* going to help you to try to break into that account if an ex-employee set it up, but your hosting company will help the person paying the bills), even if it’s not a primary email address that you use on a daily basis, and create company procedures for you (or a trusted employee) to check on a regular basis. Also, don’t use an email address you get from your ISP (Internet service provider), as the Barriere Chamber is doing. Will you remember to change the email address with your domain registrar when you do something completely unrelated, such as change who supplies your Internet connection?

To be honest, in two decades of registering domains I’ve never received anything of vital importance at the email addresses I and we use in my and our domain registrations that I needed to act on within minutes of receiving the message. If you’re “thinking” as described in the previous point then you don’t need the email reminders that you’ll receive from your registrar but, of course, you should at least be aware of them. But just in case (maybe you lost your list of domain expiry dates in the fire that burnt your office to the ground), you’re checking the email account at least monthly, weeding out all the spam, and saving the important messages related to your domain(s). Some people will argue — correctly to some extent — that you probably shouldn’t use an email address on the domain for which it is the contact address — e.g., you probably shouldn’t use domains@example.com as the contact address for your registration of example.com. This is a good point, but if necessary you can figure out what you should do in this case; for now it’s beyond the scope of this document.

  • COMPANY EMAIL MANAGEMENT: There’s that word “management” again; stuff doesn’t manage itself, no matter what the marketers try to make you believe. How you set up and manage your company email is a whole other post I will write someday, but don’t let your employee Bob Smith at email address bob-smith@example.com register your domain(s) using that email address. When Bob leaves or gets fired, and you delete his email address (you’re not really going to make his replacement, Susan Jones, masquerade as Bob Smith, are you?), guess what? Yes, those domain renewal notices are going to bounce. (And with changes introduced by ICANN a couple of years ago, this will mean your domain will be suspended within a couple of weeks of the first bounce.) Generally speaking, you want to create “role accounts” that will always exist, no matter who is employed at your company. Role accounts look like sales@example.com, info@example.com, and so on. This is essentially what the email address I suggest in the last point is.
  • HIRE PROFESSIONALS: Again, despite what the marketers try to make you believe, sometimes you should get professional advice. Do that. Get paid advice (from someone you trust or from someone to whom you have been referred by someone you trust) on domain, website and email management. If you DIY (do it yourself) because “domains, websites and email aren’t rocket science” and the FAQs on El Cheapo Daddy Hosting Co.’s website will be good enough, you might end up as another case study on some other hosting company’s blog. Oh, and while you’re DIYing, remember to read thoroughly the 28-page legal agreement that links to a further 32 agreements, policies, tips, notices, forms and permissions to make sure you’re aware of just what El Cheapo Daddy Hosting Co. will do with your domain and how much it’s going to cost you if you don’t renew before it expires.
  • REPUTATION: Perhaps this tip won’t apply to you if you’re a serial entrepreneur with dozens of businesses on the go and a workforce big enough to populate a small country, but if you care about your name and reputation and you decide (for one reason or another) that you’re closing down your business (and not selling it) and no longer have a need for your domain, perhaps consider keeping it for a while. (You could also consider selling it to the highest bidder, because it is an asset and might be worth some cash.) You could perhaps keep renewing it a year at a time, or renew it for ten years into the future with a plan to just let it expire at the end of those ten years. The same advice applies if you change the name of your company and your primary domain. If you don’t choose one of those courses of action, you will have no control over who will re-register it after you and what they will do with it. Who might acquire it? Competitors? Enemies? A disgruntled ex-employee or former customer? Pornographers? Shysters?

In short, your domain is a valuable asset. Give it the respect it deserves and manage it properly.

Conclusion

As Hasan Cavusoglu of the UBC’s Sauder School of Business said, “They should have been more careful.” Perhaps some of the information above will help you be more careful about managing your domain asset.

Glossary

None of the terms used above are too esoteric, but when you start talking about registries, registrars and registrants is can be a bit confusing. And what the hell does “WHOIS” really mean anyway? Here’s a quick rundown:

  • Domain: Also known as a “domain name”, a domain is essentially a more memorable string of letters and or numbers which point to a particular computer on the Internet so that you can connect to it, either to view a website stored on that computer or to send email to that computer. Examples include niner.net and barrierechamber.com. You cannot leave one out in the rain.
  • Drop: With a few exceptions, domains don’t suddenly cease to exist on their expiry date any more than the milk in your fridge ceases to exist on its expiry date. No, there is a long, drawn-out and painful process lasting anywhere from days to weeks to months depending on the policies associated with that domain, at the end of which the domain is finally and fully deleted from the registry’s records. This final deletion is referred to as the drop.
  • ICANN: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is the American organisation ultimately responsible for management and organisation of the Internet, including its system of domains. It delegates much of these responsibilities under contract to registries.
  • Pending delete: This is one of the possible statuses of certain domains — specifically domains such as .com, .net, and .org — after they expire and before they are dropped. It is the last status, lasting about five days, before it is dropped, and the domain cannot be recovered once it is in this status.
  • Pornography: Erotica you don’t like.
  • Redemption Grace Period (RGP): Another status of certain domains — again, specifically domains such as .com, .net, and .org — after they expire and before they are dropped. It starts about 45 days after a domain expires and ends 30 days later when the “pending delete” status starts. During this period you can recover an expired domain, but there is a hefty fee to do so. Before a domain enters the RGP you can usually renew a domain without any fees additional to the usual annual renewal fee. However, some registrars — including, last time I checked, Godaddy — will charge an additional fee even before the RGP starts. This is probably how they make money to subsidise other of their offerings.
  • Registrant: A person or organisation that registers a domain. Many people refer to a registrant as an “owner”, although in some legal jurisdictions it is believed you cannot “own” a domain, only be the registrant of one. In the registry-registrar-registrant hierarchy, a registrant is the lowest, most specific entity.
  • Registrar: A company with which a registrant can register a domain. In many, maybe even most, jurisdictions and top-level domains (a top-level domain is a hierarchy defined by what is to the right of the last dot in a domain — e.g., .com is a top-level domain) there are multiple registrars who compete with one another based on price and additional services offered.
  • Registry: All of the registrars are delegated via contract by the registry, of which there is only one per top-level domain. Put one way, the registry makes sure that there is only one existence of each domain and only one registrant for each domain.
  • WHOIS: Pronounced just like the English phrase “who is”, the WHOIS is a system whereby a database — often of domains and their registrants — can be queried to return information on a domain. What information is returned depends on the policies of the registry and/or registrar queried, but often includes the name and contact information for the registrant, the status of the domain, information on the computers (nameservers) responsible for the domain, the name of the registrar, and dates associated with the domain, not the least of which is the expiry date. You can see examples below.

Current WHOIS records

barrierechamber.com

[16:19:27 leftseat@wrathall ~]$ whois barrierechamber.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: BARRIERECHAMBER.COM
   Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
   Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 146
   Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
   Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
   Name Server: NS09.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
   Name Server: NS10.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
   Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
   Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
   Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
   Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
   Updated Date: 12-jan-2016
   Creation Date: 30-nov-2013
   Expiration Date: 30-nov-2016

>>> Last update of whois database: Fri, 15 Jan 2016 02:47:02 GMT < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en.

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar.  Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability.  VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
Domain Name: barrierechamber.com
Registry Domain ID: 1837475188_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2016-01-12T01:06:42Z
Creation Date: 2013-11-30T22:50:47Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-11-30T22:50:47Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry
Registrant Name: Al Perkins
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: Rue de L'Etau
Registrant City: St.Helier
Registrant State/Province: Jersey
Registrant Postal Code: JE2 3WF
Registrant Country: JE
Registrant Phone: +44.1534000000
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: trevmedia@gmail.com
Registry Admin ID: Not Available From Registry
Admin Name: Al Perkins
Admin Organization:
Admin Street: Rue de L'Etau
Admin City: St.Helier
Admin State/Province: Jersey
Admin Postal Code: JE2 3WF
Admin Country: JE
Admin Phone: +44.1534000000
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: trevmedia@gmail.com
Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry
Tech Name: Al Perkins
Tech Organization:
Tech Street: Rue de L'Etau
Tech City: St.Helier
Tech State/Province: Jersey
Tech Postal Code: JE2 3WF
Tech Country: JE
Tech Phone: +44.1534000000
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: trevmedia@gmail.com
Name Server: NS09.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS10.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2016-01-15T02:00:00Z < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en

The data contained in GoDaddy.com, LLC's WhoIs database,
while believed by the company to be reliable, is provided "as is"
with no guarantee or warranties regarding its accuracy.  This
information is provided for the sole purpose of assisting you
in obtaining information about domain name registration records.
Any use of this data for any other purpose is expressly forbidden without the prior written
permission of GoDaddy.com, LLC.  By submitting an inquiry,
you agree to these terms of usage and limitations of warranty.  In particular,
you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible,
dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any
purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and
and solicitations of any kind, including spam.  You further agree
not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic
processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose,
including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.

Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified
in the "registrant" section.  In most cases, GoDaddy.com, LLC
is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.
[18:47:11 leftseat@wrathall ~]$

barrierechamberofcommerce.com

[15:20:55 leftseat@wrathall ~]$ whois barrierechamberofcommerce.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: BARRIERECHAMBEROFCOMMERCE.COM
   Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
   Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 146
   Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
   Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
   Name Server: NS35.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
   Name Server: NS36.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
   Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
   Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
   Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
   Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
   Updated Date: 13-jan-2016
   Creation Date: 30-nov-2013
   Expiration Date: 30-nov-2020

>>> Last update of whois database: Sat, 16 Jan 2016 23:23:11 GMT < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en.

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar.  Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability.  VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
Domain Name: BARRIERECHAMBEROFCOMMERCE.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1837475172_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2015-12-01T11:42:05Z
Creation Date: 2013-11-30T22:50:47Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2020-11-30T22:50:47Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry
Registrant Name: Lana Laskovic
Registrant Organization: Barriere Chamber of Commerce
Registrant Street: Box 1190
Registrant City: Barriere
Registrant State/Province: British Columbia
Registrant Postal Code: V0E 1E0
Registrant Country: CA
Registrant Phone: 2506729221
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: bcoc@telus.net
Registry Admin ID: Not Available From Registry
Admin Name: Lana Laskovic
Admin Organization: Barriere Chamber of Commerce
Admin Street: Box 1190
Admin City: Barriere
Admin State/Province: British Columbia
Admin Postal Code: V0E 1E0
Admin Country: CA
Admin Phone: 2506729221
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: bcoc@telus.net
Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry
Tech Name: Lana Laskovic
Tech Organization: Barriere Chamber of Commerce
Tech Street: Box 1190
Tech City: Barriere
Tech State/Province: British Columbia
Tech Postal Code: V0E 1E0
Tech Country: CA
Tech Phone: 2506729221
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: bcoc@telus.net
Name Server: NS35.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS36.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2016-01-16T23:00:00Z < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en

The data contained in GoDaddy.com, LLC's WhoIs database,
while believed by the company to be reliable, is provided "as is"
with no guarantee or warranties regarding its accuracy.  This
information is provided for the sole purpose of assisting you
in obtaining information about domain name registration records.
Any use of this data for any other purpose is expressly forbidden without the prior written
permission of GoDaddy.com, LLC.  By submitting an inquiry,
you agree to these terms of usage and limitations of warranty.  In particular,
you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible,
dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any
purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and
and solicitations of any kind, including spam.  You further agree
not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic
processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose,
including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.

Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified
in the "registrant" section.  In most cases, GoDaddy.com, LLC
is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.
[15:23:20 leftseat@wrathall ~]$

barrieredistrict.com

[15:16:34 leftseat@wrathall ~]$ whois barrieredistrict.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: BARRIEREDISTRICT.COM
   Registrar: DROPCATCH.COM 828 LLC
   Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 2587
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: http://www.DropCatch828.com
   Name Server: NS1.SEDOPARKING.COM
   Name Server: NS2.SEDOPARKING.COM
   Status: ok http://www.icann.org/epp#OK
   Updated Date: 21-dec-2015
   Creation Date: 17-dec-2015
   Expiration Date: 17-dec-2016

>>> Last update of whois database: Sat, 16 Jan 2016 23:20:38 GMT < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en.

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar.  Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability.  VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
Domain Name: BarrierEDistrict.com
Registry Domain ID: 1988051797_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS server: whois.NameBright.com
Registrar URL: http://www.NameBright.com
Updated Date: 2015-12-17T00:00:00.000Z
Creation Date: 2015-12-17T19:35:50.000Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-12-17T00:00:00.000Z
Registrar: DropCatch.com 828 LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 2587
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@NameBright.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Domain Status: ok
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Yasutaka Sakatani
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: uji biwa 3-1-201
Registrant City: uji-shi
Registrant State/Province: Kyoto
Registrant Postal Code: 6110021
Registrant Country: JP
Registrant Phone: +810774340100
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: domain@axelight.co.jp
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Yasutaka Sakatani
Admin Organization:
Admin Street: uji biwa 3-1-201
Admin City: uji-shi
Admin State/Province: Kyoto
Admin Postal Code: 6110021
Admin Country: JP
Admin Phone: +810774340100
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: domain@axelight.co.jp
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Yasutaka Sakatani
Tech Organization:
Tech Street: uji biwa 3-1-201
Tech City: uji-shi
Tech State/Province: Kyoto
Tech Postal Code: 6110021
Tech Country: JP
Tech Phone: +810774340100
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: domain@axelight.co.jp
Name Server: ns1.sedoparking.com
Name Server: ns2.sedoparking.com
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System:
http://wdprs.internic.net
--- Last update of WHOIS database: 2016-01-16T11:20:55.368Z ---
[15:20:55 leftseat@wrathall ~]$

fotocuba.com

[17:56:37 leftseat@wrathall ~]$ whois fotocuba.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: FOTOCUBA.COM
   Registrar: DOMAINARMADA.COM LLC
   Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 1173
   Whois Server: whois.domainarmada.com
   Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
   Name Server: NS1.NINER.NET
   Name Server: NS2.NINER.NET
   Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
   Updated Date: 11-jan-2016
   Creation Date: 10-jan-2016
   Expiration Date: 10-jan-2017

>>> Last update of whois database: Sun, 17 Jan 2016 02:29:13 GMT < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en.

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar.  Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability.  VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
Domain Name: fotocuba.com
Registry Domain ID: 1993165857_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.domainarmada.com
Registrar URL: http://domainarmada.com
Updated Date: 2016-01-11T01:02:39Z
Creation Date: 2016-01-10T19:19:59Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2017-01-10T19:19:59Z
Registrar: Domainarmada.com LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 1173
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@web.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8773812449
Reseller:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization: NinerNet Communications Company
Registrant Street: 499-1685 H Street
Registrant City: Blaine
Registrant State/Province: WA
Registrant Postal Code: 98230
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.3605194260
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext.:
Registrant Email: domains@ninernet.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Domain Administrator
Admin Organization: NinerNet Communications Company
Admin Street: 499-1685 H Street
Admin City: Blaine
Admin State/Province: WA
Admin Postal Code: 98230
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.3605194260
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext.:
Admin Email: domains@ninernet.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Domain Administrator
Tech Organization: NinerNet Communications Company
Tech Street: 499-1685 H Street
Tech City: Blaine
Tech State/Province: WA
Tech Postal Code: 98230
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.3605194260
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext.:
Tech Email: domains@ninernet.com
Name Server: ns2.niner.net
Name Server: ns1.niner.net
DNSSEC: Unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2016-01-11T01:02:39Z < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en.

The data in Domainarmada.com's WHOIS database is provided to you by
Domainarmada.com for information purposes only, that is, to assist you in
obtaining information about or related to a domain name registration
record.  Domainarmada.com makes this information available "as is," and
does not guarantee its accuracy.  By submitting a WHOIS query, you
agree that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that,
under no circumstances will you use this data to: (1) allow, enable,
or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial
advertising or solicitations via direct mail, electronic mail, or by
telephone; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to Domainarmada.com (or its systems).  The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Domainarmada.com.
Domainarmada.com reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.
By submitting this query, you agree to abide by these terms.
[18:29:27 leftseat@wrathall ~]$

dropcatch828.com

[16:32:18 leftseat@wrathall ~]$ whois dropcatch828.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: DROPCATCH828.COM
   Registrar: TURNCOMMERCE, INC. DBA NAMEBRIGHT.COM
   Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 1441
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: http://www.namebright.com
   Name Server: NS1.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
   Name Server: NS2.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
   Status: clientTransferProhibited https://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
   Updated Date: 09-oct-2015
   Creation Date: 09-oct-2015
   Expiration Date: 09-oct-2016

>>> Last update of whois database: Sun, 17 Jan 2016 00:57:03 GMT < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en.

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar.  Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability.  VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
Domain Name: DropCatch828.com
Registry Domain ID: 1967207614_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS server: whois.NameBright.com
Registrar URL: http://www.NameBright.com
Updated Date: 2015-10-09T00:00:00.000Z
Creation Date: 2015-10-09T06:00:00.000Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-10-09T00:00:00.000Z
Registrar: TurnCommerce, Inc. DBA NameBright.com
Registrar IANA ID: 1441
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@NameBright.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Domain Admin
Registrant Organization: dropcatch828.com
Registrant Street: 2635 Walnut Street
Registrant City: Denver
Registrant State/Province: CO
Registrant Postal Code: 80205
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: support@namebright.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Domain Admin
Admin Organization: dropcatch828.com
Admin Street: 2635 Walnut Street
Admin City: Denver
Admin State/Province: CO
Admin Postal Code: 80205
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: support@namebright.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Domain Admin
Tech Organization: dropcatch828.com
Tech Street: 2635 Walnut Street
Tech City: Denver
Tech State/Province: CO
Tech Postal Code: 80205
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: support@namebright.com
Name Server: ns1.namebrightdns.com
Name Server: ns2.namebrightdns.com
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System:
http://wdprs.internic.net
--- Last update of WHOIS database: 2016-01-17T12:57:15.634Z ---

namebright.com

[16:57:15 leftseat@wrathall ~]$ whois namebright.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: NAMEBRIGHT.COM
   Registrar: TURNCOMMERCE, INC. DBA NAMEBRIGHT.COM
   Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 1441
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: http://www.namebright.com
   Name Server: NS1.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
   Name Server: NS2.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
   Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
   Status: clientTransferProhibited https://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
   Updated Date: 09-apr-2015
   Creation Date: 07-apr-2005
   Expiration Date: 07-apr-2025

>>> Last update of whois database: Sun, 17 Jan 2016 00:57:32 GMT < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en.

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar.  Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability.  VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
Domain Name: NameBright.com
Registry Domain ID: 149835961_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS server: whois.NameBright.com
Registrar URL: http://www.NameBright.com
Updated Date: 2015-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
Creation Date: 2005-04-07T23:54:15.000Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2025-04-07T00:00:00.000Z
Registrar: TurnCommerce, Inc. DBA NameBright.com
Registrar IANA ID: 1441
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@NameBright.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Domain Admin
Registrant Organization: namebright.com
Registrant Street: 2635 Walnut Street
Registrant City: Denver
Registrant State/Province: CO
Registrant Postal Code: 80205
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: support@namebright.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Domain Admin
Admin Organization: namebright.com
Admin Street: 2635 Walnut Street
Admin City: Denver
Admin State/Province: CO
Admin Postal Code: 80205
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: support@namebright.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Domain Admin
Tech Organization: namebright.com
Tech Street: 2635 Walnut Street
Tech City: Denver
Tech State/Province: CO
Tech Postal Code: 80205
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.720.496.0020
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: support@namebright.com
Name Server: ns1.namebrightdns.com
Name Server: ns2.namebrightdns.com
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System:
http://wdprs.internic.net
--- Last update of WHOIS database: 2016-01-17T12:57:46.540Z ---

dropcatch.com

[16:57:46 leftseat@wrathall ~]$ whois dropcatch.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

Aborting search 50 records found .....
   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1000 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1000.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1001 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1001.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1002 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1002.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1003 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1003.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1004 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1004.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1005 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1005.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1006 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1006.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1007 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1007.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1008 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1008.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1009 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1009.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1010 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1010.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1011 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1011.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1012 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1012.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1013 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1013.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1014 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1014.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1015 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1015.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1016 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1016.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1017 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1017.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1018 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1018.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1019 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1019.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1020 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1020.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1021 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1021.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1022 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1022.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1023 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1023.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1024 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1024.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1025 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1025.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1026 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1026.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1027 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1027.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1028 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1028.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1029 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1029.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

   Registrar Name: DROPCATCH.COM 1030 LLC
   Address: 2635 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205, US
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: support@namebright.com
   Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
   Referral URL: www.DropCatch1030.com
   Admin Contact: Jeffrey Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-478-5206
   Email: jeff@turncommerce.com
   Admin Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com
   Billing Contact: Andrew Reberry
   Phone Number: 303-893-0547
   Email: andrew@turncommerce.com

>>> Last update of whois database: Sun, 17 Jan 2016 01:09:53 GMT < <<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epp-status-codes-2014-06-16-en.

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar.  Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability.  VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
[17:10:15 leftseat@wrathall ~]$
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Massive outage at massive hosting company

3 August 2013 13:05:11 +0000

Hardly a week goes by that there isn’t a notable outage of one sort or another in the IT business. But some — like the one experienced by Endurance International Group yesterday — are more notable than others.

Endurance International Group is one of the world’s largest hosting companies, and specifically the parent company of the “stack ’em deep and sell ’em cheap” hosting brands Bluehost, Hostmonster, Hostgator and Just Host (as well as a plethora of others), with only one of them honest enough to put an asterisk beside their “unlimited” claims on their home page explaining how “unlimited” in their dictionary doesn’t mean what it probably means in your dictionary.

Anyway, now is not the time to kick a competitor when they’re down over minor issues like what they say and what they mean. But it is interesting to note that a massive operation claiming to host millions of domains and/or websites apparently had no system in place for communicating with customers during such an outage. We’re not immune to the occasional technical glitch and communication fumble ourselves, but Endurance actually needed to go out and register a new domain and hastily set up a blog to keep their customers updated.

Kudos to them for doing what was needed when it was needed, but one does wonder if they’ll be maintaining this website for future issues.

Update, 2016-02-01: Nope, they didn’t. It’s now being squatted by a Japanese domain squatter.

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How unlimited is “unlimited”?

5 November 2011 13:11:20 +0000

While reviewing the updated terms and conditions of one of our service providers, I noted the following clause:

CHANGE OF SERVICES: If [service provider] finds it impossible to offer services at current pricing we reserve the right to change account offerings at anytime. We will not institute higher fees automatically, however we do reserve the right to limit services that may have been “unlimited” or had higher limits previously. These changes can be caused by increase in network / support costs that the [service provider] services take to operate.

It almost smacks of honesty when they put the word “unlimited” in quotation marks! Just with those quotes, never mind the rest of the text, they’re tacitly admitting that even they don’t take themselves seriously when they sell one or more of their services as “unlimited”. If a company offering “unlimited” something or other doesn’t even believe their own marketing material, why should you?

Good question.

I’ve written before on supposedly unlimited services. Have a look.

NinerNet does not offer unlimited anything. We simply believe that it’s dishonest. You’re not going to give us a blank cheque, and neither are we going to give the equivalent in services. It’s just asking for trouble, and opening up ourselves and all of our other clients for disruption when someone takes advantage of their blank cheque. We won’t do that.

Craig

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How NOT to transfer your hosting

19 March 2011 12:52:28 +0000

More often than not, we’re helping new clients transfer their hosting from their former hosting provider to NinerNet. Over the years we’ve become very good at this, and we have a tried-and-true process we follow to make sure there are no problems and that (most importantly) the new client’s email and website do not go down. There is simply no need (or excuse) for even a second of down time when you’re moving your hosting from one place to another.

Transferring your hosting takes time and planning; not that much time, but it’s not something that’s completed in five minutes while you’re on the phone. When a potential client contacts us about transferring in, we ask a number of questions and then send them a detailed plan laying out our step-by-step transfer process, how long each step takes, setting out what needs to be done and who does what, and the checks and balances that happen at each step. The transfer document is a little lengthy (if you’ll excuse the oxymoron) and potentially intimidating, but it has a bullet point summary and the details are there for the purpose of full transparency.

The point of this post though, is how not to transfer your hosting. We do all of the legwork detailed above because — guess what? — we want this new client and we’re willing to do the legwork up front for years of business from a happy client down the road. Sometimes though, I have to admit, we see the occasional client transfer away from us to one of our competitors. This can sometimes be a painful process for us to watch — not just because we’re losing a client, but because we see the amateurish way in which the transfer is handled. Often this is because of one of two reasons:

  • The client is transferring to a “stack ’em deep and sell ’em cheap” hosting company because … well … they’re cheaper than we are. In this case the client is usually on their own during the transfer.
  • The client is transferring to hosting resold by a web designer or a “search engine optimisation” company that they’re using. In this case, while these companies might be good at web design or SEO, they’re often clueless when it comes to the technical aspects of hosting. Contrary to what some of these companies believe, hosting is about more than just clicking pretty icons in a web-based control panel provided by the aforementioned “stack ’em deep and sell ’em cheap” hosting companies.

So we recently waved goodbye to a long-time client whose ownership had changed hands since they came on board with us seven years ago. (Almost all of our ex-clients left us because of things beyond our control — e.g., business closure, a sales pitch from the aforementioned web designer or SEO “expert”, recommendations of close friends or trusted advisors, etc. — not because they didn’t like the service they were getting from us.) Experience has taught us that, when the client has made up their mind, we have to let go. We do say that we’re sorry to see them go — and we mean it — and we ask if there’s anything we can do to keep their business, but if they’re committed then we back off. At that point they’re in the hands of and following the advice of third parties, and as bad as that advice might turn out to be, we’d be interfering if we tried to point that out. (That’s not always the case. To be fair, most of the clients we’ve lost over the years had no problems when they transferred away from us, but the exceptions stick out in one’s memory.)

And so it was that this client transferred to an SEO company that resells the hosting services of a well-known “stack ’em deep and sell ’em cheap” hosting company. The sad result? The client’s website and email were down for ten days! TEN DAYS! Not ten minutes, but ten days! During those ten days much of the work that the SEO company had done (and been paid to do!) previously was wiped out. Not only that, but in their panic — evident in the dozen or so emails sent rapid-fire in the span of about forty-five minutes — they issued confusing and conflicting instructions which actually resulted in further damage to our ex-client’s reputation in the search engines — not to mention the damage already caused in the eyes of their customers and potential (but probably lost) customers. As I said, it was a painful process to watch.

The bright side to this? We actually have a number of former clients that have transferred away come back to us a year or two later, most recently one about a week ago. Now that’s definitely what I’d call a vote of confidence!

Contacts us if you have any questions about transferring your hosting. We’re here to help.

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This is the corporate blog of NinerNet Communications. It's where we post announcements, inform and educate our clients, and discuss issues related to the Internet (web and email) hosting business and all it entails. This includes concomitant industries and activities such as domain registration, SSL/TLS certificates, online back-up, virtual private servers (VPS), cloud hosting, etc. Please visit our main website for more information about us.

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