opting out of WHOIS

seanc · Aug 31, 2006

ive been told i cannot opt out of WHOIS if i park my pages?

Admin · Aug 31, 2006

this is true, if you use a domain commercially you cannot opt out.

retired_member6 · Aug 31, 2006

If you use your domain for business activity then you can't opt out and tag holders should be made to adhere as well.

Slater · Aug 31, 2006

Notice recently I've had a few emails come back from the Automaton weeks after I've registered a domain indicating the opt-out status has been changed, domains in question are parked at SEDO.

Are Nominet automatically going through domains and changing the opt-out status ? Thought someone was trying to hack my account.

jonno · Aug 31, 2006

this is pathetic.

if an individual registers a domain at 123-reg with default 123-reg nameservers [which include sponsored ads] - is it right for nominet to change your opt out status because "someone is making profit" out of the domain

what about personal blogs that have affiliate banners, or google sponsored ads?

what a joke.

Slater · Sep 5, 2006

Can a 3rd party request that Nominet change your opt out status ?

The last domain that Nominet changed the opt out status on, I received a letter from a 3rd party asking me to relenquish control of the domain to them the following day, seems too much of a coincidence that the letter came so quickly after opt out status changed.

olebean · Sep 5, 2006

jonno said:
this is pathetic.

if an individual registers a domain at 123-reg with default 123-reg nameservers [which include sponsored ads] - is it right for nominet to change your opt out status because "someone is making profit" out of the domain

what about personal blogs that have affiliate banners, or google sponsored ads?

what a joke.

Jonno

try taking it to the data commissioner

Admin · Sep 5, 2006

Slater said:
Can a 3rd party request that Nominet change your opt out status ?

The last domain that Nominet changed the opt out status on, I received a letter from a 3rd party asking me to relenquish control of the domain to them the following day, seems too much of a coincidence that the letter came so quickly after opt out status changed.

The 3rd party can highlight to Nominet if you have opted out when you are using the domain commercially, Nominet don't go looking for this themselves.

Once Nom are aware they will change it (it happened to me).

olebean · Sep 5, 2006

admin said:
The 3rd party can highlight to Nominet if you have opted out when you are using the domain commercially, Nominet don't go looking for this themselves.

Once Nom are aware they will change it (it happened to me).

Sorry to burst the bubble

Nominet (Staff) do look and assume without looking

Jay Daley · Sep 5, 2006

olebean said:
Sorry to burst the bubble

Nominet (Staff) do look and assume without looking

No we don't. We respond to complaints about the opt-out, or if we are dealing with the domain for other reasons and notice a problem then we act. We do not go looking for infringements.

Admin · Sep 5, 2006

Jay Daley said:
No we don't. We respond to complaints about the opt-out, or if we are dealing with the domain for other reasons and notice a problem then we act. We do not go looking for infringements.

Thanks Jay, I thought that was the case.

olebean · Sep 6, 2006

Jay Daley said:
No we don't. We respond to complaints about the opt-out, or if we are dealing with the domain for other reasons and notice a problem then we act. We do not go looking for infringements.

Jay

may I be so bold and suggest you go talk to other staff members whether or not my issue was an isolated incident who knows

seanc · Sep 6, 2006

nominet contacted me telling me to opt back in on a few domains
last week.. complaints? i find it hard to beleive.

fred · Sep 6, 2006

seanc said:
nominet contacted me telling me to opt back in on a few domains
last week.. complaints? i find it hard to beleive.

Don't be so quick to judge on that one, I had someone complain that I had a 'trading as' entry when I wasn't trading as that name. A simple reply to nominet was all it took to assure them that it was a legitimate trading name and they were happy.

But the point is, someone complained. Don't know if they were hoping my domains would get deleted or what but people do complain about these things.

Jay Daley · Sep 6, 2006

fred said:
Don't know if they were hoping my domains would get deleted or what but people do complain about these things.

An enormous number of the complaints we receive are from domainers complaining about other domainers. I can only guess at the motives though.

Whois-Search · Sep 6, 2006

This from the PAB September meeting makes interesting reading:

http://www.nominet.org.uk/digitalAssets/9054_Sept_06_Use_of_opt_out.pdf

Statistics
• On average we receive 26 WHOIS opt in/out complaints each month
• We do not proactively seek out misuse of the opt-out facility and instead respond to complaints received.
• Normally the complaint is about between one and six domains. We often discover other domain names when we run searches against the registrant name. The largest recent complaint involved 1,300 domains.
• Based on a sample of recent cases, the tag holder amended the opt-out field data in 3% of cases. Registrant Services updated the remainder.
• A very small proportion of cases involve misuse of the registrant type “IND” as the registrant is actually a limited company etc. The remainder were all valid registrations for individuals. The misuse arises because the domain name was being used for commercial purposes.
• Of these, all cases in the sample used the domain names for pay-per-click income or had ‘domain is for sale’ banners.
• We receive a response to our enquiries in 87% of cases.
• Nearly half of the registrants who are the subject of an opt-out complaint go on to complain about misuse of the opt-out by another registrant. This usually occurs within the domainer community.

source: http://www.nominet.org.uk/policy/pab/nextmeeting/