What does a web researcher do?

Help Decipher Status of Web Site Ownership

• [NOTE TO GOOGLE: The name "Mark Prague" and site information I give here is fictitious; the domain cited ? www.markprague.com -- does not really exist, nor is the contact information cited below real. I am presenting this fictional information so the researcher can help me determine the solution to my problem. PLEASE DO NOT ERASE THIS QUESTION!] THE QUESTION: I have an issue regarding a Web site domain that I once owned and have now lost track; to be honest, I don?t know if I own it or not! Let?s say my name is ?Mark Prague.? When I purchased the domain www.markprague.com, I put nothing on it; I simply had reserved the domain. My ownership of the domain may have lapsed (am not sure); however, when I visit www.markprague.com, the site now features a travel Web site. The travel Web site aggregates links to other travel sites and related information; it appears to be similar to a site that a domain aggregator may put up. Except for the fact that it features travel-related info, it is virtually identical to http://www.name-services.com/. When I check Whois.net, here is what the ownership record reads: [whois.enom.com] =-=-=-= Registration Service Provided By: Domain Notification Contact: [email protected] Domain name: markprague.com Registrant Contact: The Daily Register Mark Prague ([email protected]) +1.555.555.5555 Fax: +. 5555 Any Street., Suite 555 Any City, CA 55555 US Administrative Contact: Domain Notification Domain Notification ([email protected]) +1.8002705944 Fax: 130 Church Street Suite 280 New York, NY 10007 US Technical Contact: Domain Notification Domain Notification ([email protected]) +1.8002705944 Fax: 130 Church Street Suite 280 New York, NY 10007 US Status: Locked Name Servers: dns1.name-services.com dns2.name-services.com dns3.name-services.com dns4.name-services.com dns5.name-services.com Creation date: 24 Nov 2003 14:34:38 Expiration date: 24 Nov 2008 14:34:38 At the bottom of the page at www.markprague.com, there is a link that reads ?WHY AM I SEEING THIS WEB SITE?? When I click on the link, an email popup appears. It is addressed to [email protected]? with the subject line ?Inquiring about the domain 'markprague.com', with status: Registered? Do I own this domain or not? I am listed as the registrant contact; am I still the owner? How can my site have been hijacked by this other company (whoever it is?) And if I don?t own it, who do I connect with to get it back (if possible)?

• Answer:

  Hello prpro-ga, I've been working on your question and what I've found out seems to be good news for you -- at least this can be deduced from your fictional "whois" verification, as long as it reflects the real thing accurately. What can be inferred from your description is that when you registered your domain name you did it through Domain Notification Center (http://domainnotificationcenter.us/ ) or one of its related registrars (see list at http://domainnotificationcenter.us/terms/agreement.asp#registrars ) In it Terms - Registration Agreement page (http://domainnotificationcenter.us/terms/agreement.asp ), under the section "USE OF FREE SERVICES", you can read: "In consideration for providing additional optional Services for which we do not charge an additional fee, including, but not limited to, URL forwarding, email forwarding, free parking page (...) you agree that, if you use such Free Services, we may display advertising in conjunction therewith through the use of pop-up or pop-under browser windows, banner advertisements, audio or video steams, appendices to emails, or other similar advertising means, and that we may aggregate related usage data by means of cookies and other similar means." If you have a domain name for which no actual website has been built yet, then you *are* using one of the free services mentioned in the Agreement: free parking. Thus, what you see when you type your domains URL is not a "real" webpage, but advertising that you "agree that (...) (they) may display". Then, you don't have a site that has been hijacked -- instead, you hold a domain name registration which is parked for free by a company who holds the right, under its agreement with you, to place advertising at the domain you have registered, while you don't upload a website for it. This is good news already. More good news is that since the whois information shows your name in the registrant contact field and the expiration date in 2008, it seems that you are still the registrant and this is not going to change for a long couple of years yet. (You probably purchased a five year registration period.) Also, the fact that when you click on the link "WHY AM I SEEING THIS WEB SITE?", the appearing popup email subject line shows the status "registered" confirms it. The same occurs with the real example you gave http://www.name-services.com/ Conversely, for the domain http://www.tupacfans.com/ , the popup-email subject line shows the status "expired". Please try asking for confirmation sending the popup email correspounding to the page at your domain name. Finally, please have into account that, technically, when someone registers a domain name doesn't *own* it, but holds a registration. As you can read at the Registration Agreement page mentioned above (http://domainnotificationcenter.us/terms/agreement.asp ), in the section "OUR SERVICES"; "You further agree that domain name registration is a service, that domain name registrations do not exist independently from services provided pursuant to this or a similar registration agreement with a registrar, and that domain name registration services do not create a property interest." Instead, you are the legitimate registrant for the registration period that you purchased, what gives you the correspounding right to use the domain name, until the expiration time, which you can extend by purchasing a new registration period. I believe this information should answer your question. Please ask me if you need clarification. My search strategy was "domain notification". Regards, Guillermo