As if the unending proof that VeriSign and Network Solutions are completely unethical, bumbling idiots wasn’t enough, check this out: VeriSign is now sending snail mail spam to non-customers in an attempt to trick them into transferring their domains from another registrar to Versign.
My brother received a letter from Verisign last week which, at first glance, looks like a warning that his domain is about to expire. It states in large letters at the top, “Domain Name Expiration Notice”, and just underneath, “Reply by: May 15th, 2002”. For all intensive purposes if you didn’t look really closely, it seems like a legitimate expiry notice.
But, if you squint WAY down to small print at the bottom of the page, you’ll see a very tiny note to Review the terms and conditions on the back of this form.
It’s there, hidden in the small print on the back that you’ll find that this is actually a marketing ploy and not a real expiry notice.
The catch, of course, is that I registered this domain for my brother, and it has never been maintained by VeriSign / Network Solutions. In fact, neither of us have registered domains with them because of their terrible service and reputation. This domain was actually registered with the competent folks at 000domains.com, an OpenSRS-approved registrar. So, there’s no way that VeriSign could legitimately have my brother’s postal address in their system.
That means that VeriSign, like a lowly porn e-mail spammer, is spidering other registrars WHOIS databases for their address information. Truly unbelievable. I’m sure this has a lot to do with their increasing lack of ethics. Will someone please smote these idiots with a massive class-action suit sooner rather than later?
