Is Dynadot selling our domain name searches?

Dynadot is a great company. Nowhere better to register one’s domain names.

Why?

1. fair prices
2. great backend interface
3. fast loading website (for a domain registrar where one spends a lot of time doing repetitive actions, speed is extremely important
4. telephone support

But lately Dyandot has been getting a lot of bad press for purportedly selling names their customers are searching for.

When doing bulk seraches for available names, make sure you stay away from DYNADOT. In the last few days I had few names I queried about (that were avaibale at the time) registered by somebody else withing 24-48 hrs. (including some by that notorious serial registrant "Mrs. Jello" from this board).

Dynadot is obviously selling their query logs to the likes of that slimy character, so beware.

Okay, world, take a deep breath. This does happen. Last year there was a domain that I really, really wanted. I’d spent a week thinking about the name, looking at what was available and finally leaped, two days after having queried initially. Bingo, the domain was gone. This was on the .at registrar.

This was not a topical, news type domain name so it had nothing to do with collective consciousness or spiritus mundi.

Somebody had logged and sold or shown my query somewhere. A guy in Salzburg at bought the domain.

I was mad at the registrar initially but I learned my lesson. When you go looking for a domain, be prepared to register what you like right away. Now with some registrars (including Dydnadot) you can register a domain and take 5 days to decide.

Dynadot is denying all charges of datamining their customers’ queries:

We are not selling search logs. We would never do something like that. Several people have asked us this recently. When you do a search, there are several places where your info may be intercepted.

1. Between your browser, and our web server. The connection is not SSL, though we have been thinking of adding a SSL protected search. There may be people out there sniffing traffic.
2. Between our server and the central registry. This is a SSL protected connection. I know we are not selling search data, and I sincerely hope the central registries are not doing it. The main search sends your request to all registries (COM, NET, ORG, INFO, WS, etc) and if only one of them is selling data then the search is compromised.
3. From our web server back to your browser.

I believe Dynadot.

Somebody higher up on the food chain is selling the info.

I think some large companies have found a way to hijack all the queries going through the central registry.

From the same thread, here is the scoop from somebody who worked in the industry years ago:

and they are registering domains based on searches at registrars..I have personally tracked it, it’s no BS and no conspiracy theory…it is happening. When I worked at VERIO in south florida in like 2001 they were doing this for us that worked there for a free "bone" as it’s called, we all got emailed a log of the attempted domain registrations for the day thru the verio.com website…and any failed ones also..we reg’d shit all day long. This is reality I’m sorry but it is a dirty business we are in because this all represents that evil almighty dollar to the people getting the good names. How exactly it is happening I don’t know but I think it is on the verisign end possibly (maybe without their knowledge) FIX? ..don’t search for names you don’t plan to reg right then…

The money in domaining right now is insane. In 2005, Yun Ye’s portfolio was bought for $164 million. In 2006, registrars like BulkRegister were bought out by eNom before eNome was acquired in turn by Demand Media. Also at least a $120 million deal as well as I can determine (the actual price does not seem to have been published, although the financing of the deal is on record).

Do you think the people spending $250 million on domain names are not trying to find a way, any way to hijack whois queries?

Of course they are. And if that means breaking the law, spying, bribing – whatever it takes, these people will do it. Sharks around blood. Money is in the water.

And that would be very sad.

Remember – if you see a domain you like, buy it right away – and you’ll be alright.

Alec Kinnear

Alec has been helping businesses succeed online since 2000. Alec is an SEM expert with a background in advertising, as a former Head of Television for Grey Moscow and Senior Television Producer for Bates, Saatchi and Saatchi Russia.