In a recent letter sent to my inbox, NetworkSolutions.com emailed regarding a domain that will be expiring soon, and they encourage me to place a back-order for the domain name at NameJet.com. The domain name they are emailing about is a .net version of a .com domain name that I own. The title of the email reads “DOMAIN.NET Can Be Yours: Find Out How” ( real domain edited out ) and further along in the email it states: “Since you have registered the same domain name with a different extension, we want to inform you that (DOMAIN.NET) may become available soon through our domain auction provider, NameJet™.”

When the two companies were still working together NSI promoted back-order service provider SnapNames in whois searches and on their site. Since dropping that alliance and forming the Namejet partnership, they have continued their promotions, but previous to now I do not recall an email campaign to domain owners in this manner. NSI seems to be making every effort to squeak more profits from their expiring domain inventory and maintain their market-share.

This tactic by NSI of emailing domain owners when a similar extension domain is expiring seems reminiscent of emails that desperate domainers are often found sending out trying to sell the .com owner the .org, .net or .whatever. The pitch probably works some of the time, especially to an uninformed domain owner who doesn’t know .com from .cm

Read on if you want to see the email in it’s entirety.

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The racially sensitive domain name SandNigger.com expired and was auctioned off at Namejet.com today. The domain ended up selling for $840. A quick look at the NSI whois reveals the new owner (who will likely be buying privacy protection very soon. . . .you’re welcome NSI ). Justin over at Namebio posted an open letter regarding this story. He’s calling for the companies involved to donate the profits from the sale to a reputable charity. I decided to feature this story as a way to back Justin’s idea up, but I’m also going to expand on this call to action, so keep reading. . . .

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TechCrunch recently reported that Network Solutions, has been hijacking unassigned sub-domains and using them for link-filled landing pages to increase their revenue.

Win Betteridge, the webmaster for GotGame.com, was the first to find out what was going on.

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UPDATE : Within minutes of running this story we are receiving reports that the http://www.Nigger.com page has been taken down, while http://nigger.com may still be up. I’m guessing DNS will propogate throughout the day and this page will no longer show by day’s end.

Nigger.com, a domain name containing likely of one of the most controversial and overtly racist words in the English language is currently owned by the NAACP. The domain name which was likely set by the organization to not resolve has been “taken over” by the domain registrar Network Solutions.  Digg this story

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According to a press release from the law firm Kabateck Brown Kellner, a federal class action lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California against domain name registrar Network Solutions and ICANN. The suit clam that the NSI has forced customers into buying domains from the company rather than through potentially cheaper avenues, in effect netting the company millions of dollars.

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