Registrars are committing fraud!
 

I have solid evidence of WHOIS queries being intercepted by registrars, and domains being registered in anticipation of the webmaster purchasing the domain in a process called "frontrunning". This process is outlined in ICANN documentation, and is prohibited.

It has been suspected that the people involved in this are sniffing packets. My research has determined the process is not so advanced, it's merely the registrar owners or employees watching the queries to their own WHOIS database. Registrars often query other companies WHOIS databases, so the people watching the queries may not be the same sites you're querying through.

This was originally brought to my attention through threads by Pornwolf, and Manowar. I'd appreciate if everyone could highlight, and try to describe where they've had domains snarked when they queried for their availability. If you could post the domain, and where they ended up, it would be appreciated.

I spoke with ICANN today and they have expressed interest in seeing evidence of this activity. The more, the better. Let's put this crooked behavior to an end. Feel free to send me a message:

Message me here.

Get those motherfuckers.

I'm sorry, but I haven't seen it happen to me. I tried hard to get someone to register names I did a Whois for.. but.. they just didn't do it. :/

I have a friend that owns a program. He had this happening to him when he was registering domains for a new paysite, he had to switch to a different registrar and change the name of the paysite.

i've started about 5 threads on this. has happened to me many times.

no one seemed to give a fuck then...couple of people even told me i was bullshitting.

so i don't care now. good luck though.

fucking-around-and-business-discussion/589439-fucking-domain-stolen-search.html

can't find the other one....but im sure you'll find a couple of people in that thread.

dotlabor.com was stolen from me earlier this year.

According to the wording in that, I am allowed as a registrar to sell that data to a third party. I just cannot use it for myself.

You know
I've always wondered if someone would pull something like this.
I guess it is happening for real. I ain't saying it's them but i'm sure it's done

Good luck proving it to ICANN.
WG

What about the activty where domains get dropped everyday and are snapped up by scripts? Typically they are held for 4-5 days - clearly to see if they can sell them at a premium, then dropped.

How come these registrars can register and keep a domain for a few days when everyone else has to do it for a minimum of 1 yr just to see if they can profit out of it? I wouldn't mind such a practice if they have to pay the registration for the full year which is clearly not the case. Obviosly the premium ones are never dropped. I remember several months ago, you could watch a name dropping and sometimes if you were lucky, you could grab it before anyone else, but forget it now.

Same with me when I posted (not here) got bullshit like "life's not fair" blah, blah, blah

I've often suspected this for a long time. When I am just looking for a good name I'll type it in my browsers address bar first to see what happens. If it appears that it's not taken I then log in my domain registrar and buy it right then.

After watching one of those "search spy" applets that displays current searches on search engines, I figured it was possible for domain registrars to watch domain search queries on their side.

i think it happens

bump

8char

xenigo nice to see you trying to do something about this. But Whats up with your message me page? :1orglaugh

Ha, my bad... I completely forgot that dude was there with his ass hanging out. I guess that's how numb I've gotten to gay porn. LOL

I should move that form over to one of my less graphic domains.

heres how it works..

I am a registrar , i "accidently" leave an area on my server to be accessed by a third party that happens to disclose domain search records..

Third party "accidently" leaves a briefcase full of cash in my office :winkwink:

A year or two ago I did a whois on armpitfucking.com (lol, it was actually a gfy thread that inspired that query) and about a week later it got registered and has been parked ever since.

It wouldn't have to be a registrar if you type it in your address bar.. then it could be your ISP. If large enough, there would be a wealth of data in their dns failed queries. If it's available, and you really want it, why not register it then, and there?

nevermind...

Do you read through the ICANN lists? You can comment in those and bring awareness to any issues too.

http://forum.icann.org/lists/

Real simple solution, if you check a domain, don't kick back and think it will be there even 10 minutes later. Get it and reg it.

If your referring to me Brujah I've never had this happen. I was just commenting on how I always suspected this and avoided using the registrars search box to just see if a name was taken, I'd type it my browser and if it looked available, if so, then I would log in my registrars account and buy it.

That's not really a 'solution' Kevin. Someone told me that the other day, and I told them it was more like using duct tape to fix leaky plumbing.