9903webtechs-snafu.html 9.62 KB

Raw Blame History Permalink

<HTML>
<HEAD>
  <TITLE>webtechs.com falls victim to Network Solutions (March 1999)</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>
  The Sad Story of webtechs.com
</H1>
<P ALIGN=Center>
<SMALL><A HREF="#Incident">Incident</A> &#183;
<A HREF="#Response">Response</A> &#183;
<A HREF="#coverage">Coverage</A></SMALL>
<H2>
  <A NAME="Incident">Incident</A>
</H2>
<P>
webtechs.com was the home of the HTML validation service from Dec 1994 until
Network Solutions yanked it out from under us on 18 March 1999:
<DL>
  <DT>
    13 Jul 1994
  <DD>
    <A HREF="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-html/1994Jul/0015.html">ANNOUNCE:
    HaL Interactive HTML Validation Service</A><BR>
    Mark and Dan create the validation service and make it available via Hal
    Software Systems in Austin, TX
  <DT>
    16 Dec 1994
  <DD>
    Mark and Dan establish WebTechs.com and move the validation service there<BR>
    (c.f. <A HREF="http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois?DWC4">DWC4
    entry in whois</A> which NSI moved from
    <A HREF="http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois?DWC4">this address</A> for
    no apparent reason @@when?) I think I'd better made a copy here just in case:
    <PRE>Connolly, Dan W. (DWC4)         admin@WEBTECHS.COM
          Hal Software Systems
          3006 Longhorn, Suite 113
          Austin, TX 78758
          (512) 834-9962

          Record last updated on 16-Dec-94.
          Database last updated on 13-Apr-99 15:39:22 EDT.
</PRE>
  <DT>
    1996/10/29 16:41:54Z
  <DD>
    at W3C, Dan adds a link from <A HREF="../../MarkUp/html-test/Overview.html">W3C
    HTML Testing page</A> to WebTechs validation service.
  <DT>
    28 Nov 1997
  <DD>
    Network Solutions sends <A HREF="9903webtechs/webt1.pdf">invoice 90749</A>
    for WEBTECHS.COM domain service for the period <STRONG>16-Dec-1997</STRONG>
    to <STRONG>16-Dec-1998</STRONG>.<BR>
    Mark paid it; service continues.
  <DT>
    24 Sep 1998
  <DD>
    Network Solutions sends <A HREF="9903webtechs/webt2.pdf">invoice 2590680</A>
    (<A HREF="9903webtechs/webt2s2.pdf">back</A>) for the same period:
    <STRONG>16-Dec-1997</STRONG> to <STRONG>16-Dec-1998</STRONG>.
  <DT>
    6 Oct 1998
  <DD>
    Network Solutions writes Mark <A HREF="9903webtechs/webt3.pdf">a letter</A>
    that seems to clarify:
    <BLOCKQUOTE>
      We have recently discovered that you were invoiced twice in September for
      the same subscription period for the domain name WEBTECHS.COM. You are only
      responsible for payment on ONE of the invoices. If you are remitting payment
      via check, either invoice stub can be submitted with the payment. However,
      if you are remitting payment via credit card please use the following invoice
      information.
      <P>
      <B>Invoice number: 2590680<BR>
      Domain Name: WEBTECHS.COM<BR>
      Amount: $35.00</B>
      <P>
      ...
    </BLOCKQUOTE>
    <P>
    Mark pays the invoice.
  <DT>
    30 Nov 1998
  <DD>
    Mark learns from his <A HREF="9903webtechs/webt4.pdf">bank statement</A>
    that Network Solutions cashed his check, #1118 for $35 on 12 Nov.
  <DT>
    Dec 1998
  <DD>
    Mark and Dan turn their attention from the validation service to other endeavors
    for a time.
  <DT>
    18 March 1999
  <DD>
    Network Solutions sells webtechs.com to VDB
    <PRE>Registrant:
VIRTUAL DOMAIN BUYERS - webtechs.com (WEBTECHS3-DOM)
   VIBORGVEJ 13, 1
   DK-7800 SKIVE, NA NA
   DENMARK

   Domain Name: WEBTECHS.COM

   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
      Christensen Chabert, Tom Frank  (TFC14)  webmaster@JADER.COM
      +45 97512839 (FAX) +45 96140000
   Billing Contact:
      Christensen Chabert, Tom Frank  (TFC14)  webmaster@JADER.COM
      +45 97512839 (FAX) +45 96140000

   Record last updated on 18-Mar-99.
   Record created on 18-Mar-99.
   Database last updated on 3-Apr-99 21:42:11 EDT.

   Domain servers in listed order:

   NS1.SUPERB.NET               207.86.199.3
   NS2.SUPERB.NET               151.196.207.3
</PRE>
</DL>
<H2>
  <A NAME="Response">Response</A>
</H2>
<P>
Since then, we're doing everything we can think of to get the domain back:
<DL>
  <DT>
    22 Mar 1999
  <DD>
    Mark reports the problem to NSI; a tracking number is assigned:
    <PRE>From mts@mts1.internic.net Mon Mar 22 11:56:38 1999
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 12:52:40 -0500 (EST)
To: Mark Gaither &lt;markg@activerse.com&gt;
From: hostmaster@internic.net
Subject: Re: [NIC-990322.621d] Hijacked domain
Reply-To: hostmaster@internic.net
X-MTS-LoopDetect: InterNIC_Registration_Services

This is an automatic reply from Network Solutions to acknowledge that
your message has been received.  This acknowledgement is NOT a
confirmation that your request has been processed.

If you need to correspond with us regarding this request, please be
sure to reference the tracking number [[NIC-990322.621d]] in the subject
of your message.

Regards,
InterNIC Registration Services
</PRE>
  <DT>
    23 Mar 1999
  <DD>
    Dan and Mark receive numerous reports from WebTechs users that "Ack! The
    online HTML validation site I've been urging my users to go to for several
    years now has become -- get this -- a porn site." We begin to investigate
    and find that there are
    <A HREF="http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=q&amp;kl=XX&amp;q=link%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.webtechs.com%2F">over
    30,000 links to webtechs.com</A>, according to
    <A HREF="http://www.altavista.com/">AltaVista</A>.
  <DT>
    Mar 25 1999
  <DD>
    After phoning repeatedly, Mark finally reaches NSI (703-742-4777) at 6:28PM
    CST for a duration of 15 minutes. Mark requests a copy of a listing of all
    my transactions with NSI. They promised to fax the query results, but we
    haven't heard from them.
  <DT>
    Sun, 4 Apr 1999
  <DD>
    <A HREF="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/1999MarApr/0001.html">connolly
    writes to www-talk to update the community</A>
  <DT>
    14 Apr 1999
  <DD>
    Mark writes Vice President Gore <A HREF="9903webtechs/markg14apr.txt">a
    letter</A><BR>
    Dan Connolly forwards Mark's letter to representative
    <A HREF="http://www.house.gov/doggett/">Lloyd Doggett</A>
  <DT>
    26 May 1999
  <DD>
    Dan files <A HREF="9903webtechs/bbb990526.html">a complaint</A> with the
    Better Business Bureau (<A HREF="http://www.bbb.org/">BBB</A>).
  <DT>
    12 Jul 1999
  <DD>
    Dan receives a response, dated 1 July, from Network Solutions <BR>
    L. Johnson
    <P>
    Investigations
    <P>
    Business Affairs Office
    <P>
    tel:+1-703-742-4884<BR>
    <BR>
    He claims there was a fourth invoice:
    <TABLE BORDER CELLPADDING="2">
      <TR>
	<TH>invoice #</TH>
	<TH>service period </TH>
	<TH>sent </TH>
	<TH>paid</TH>
      </TR>
      <TR>
	<TD>960918.275 </TD>
	<TD>Dec'95-Dec'96 </TD>
	<TD>19 Sep 1996 </TD>
	<TD>19 Oct 1996</TD>
      </TR>
      <TR>
	<TD>90749 </TD>
	<TD>Dec'96-Dec'97 </TD>
	<TD>26 Nov 1997 </TD>
	<TD>22 Dec 1997</TD>
      </TR>
      <TR>
	<TD>2538481 </TD>
	<TD></TD>
	<TD>21 Sep 1998 </TD>
	<TD>(bogus/ignored)</TD>
      </TR>
      <TR>
	<TD>2590680 </TD>
	<TD>Dec'97-Dec'98 </TD>
	<TD>23 Sep 1998 </TD>
	<TD>9 Nov 1998</TD>
      </TR>
      <TR>
	<TD>3283176 </TD>
	<TD>Dec'98-Dec'99 </TD>
	<TD>20 Nov 1998</TD>
	<TD></TD>
      </TR>
      <TR>
	<TD>3283176 (2nd notice) </TD>
	<TD></TD>
	<TD>23 Dec 1998</TD>
	<TD></TD>
      </TR>
      <TR>
	<TD>3283176 (3rd notice) </TD>
	<TD></TD>
	<TD>7 Jan 1999</TD>
	<TD></TD>
      </TR>
    </TABLE>
    <P>
    Mark never received the fourth invoice.
  <DT>
    15 Sep
  <DD>
    Mark asks Christensen Chabert, Tom Frank if they'd be willing to sell
    WEBTECHS.COM back to us. They agree, in principle, for $600.
</DL>
<H2>
  <A NAME="coverage">News Coverage and Related Discussion</A>
</H2>
<P>
newest first...
<DL>
  <DT>
    8 Apr 1999
  <DD>
    <A HREF="http://www.internetnews.com/wd-news/article/0,1087,10_94421,00.html">Web
    Service Hijacked By Domain Speculators</A><BR>
    By Brian McWilliams<BR>
    <A HREF="http://www.internetnews.com">InternetNews.com</A> Correspondent
    <BLOCKQUOTE>
      "Three weeks ago I couldn't access my site, and then I got a call from a
      lady at the Library of Congress wondering if I had changed it to a porn site,"
      said Gaither. "That really tarnishes WebTechs' and my name, so I'm
      flabbergasted."
    </BLOCKQUOTE>
  <DT>
    6 Apr 1999
  <DD>
    related story:
    <A HREF="http://www.aberdeen.com/ab_research/1999/04/0499internic/0499internic.htm">Network
    Solutions Dog Bites Aberdeen Group, Aberdeen Bites Back</A>
  <DT>
    Thu, 04 Mar 1999
  <DD>
    Mark and Dan look around to see if other folks are having similar problems
    and find:
    <BLOCKQUOTE>
      InterNIC did, indeed, drop over 18,000 domain names on the night of Sunday
      February 28. [...]
      <P>
      Again. This involves domains that were paid in full, and inspite of that
      fact InterNIC removed the domains in clear violation of their "contract."
      Their attitude toward most of those involved is one of, "Tough sh*t!" without
      even caring that they are in the wrong or that they are destroying people's
      lives and businesses.
      <P>
      <A HREF="http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/html/nanog/msg04932.html">Mike
      Sandburg to nanog</A>
    </BLOCKQUOTE>
  <DT>
    March 2, 1999
  <DD>
    This sort of problem was common before it happened to us:<BR>
    <A HREF="http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,1087,3_75171,00.html"><CITE>Network
    Solutions Angers Domain Holders</CITE></A><BR>
    By Brian McWilliams<BR>
    <A HREF="http://www.internetnews.com/">InternetNews.com</A> Correspondent
</DL>
<P>
  <HR>
<ADDRESS>
  <A HREF="./">Dan Connolly</A><BR>
  Created April 1999<BR>
  $Revision: 1.18 $ $Date: 1999/09/29 04:04:06 $
</ADDRESS>
</BODY></HTML>