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Sep 19, 2002, 11:14am

What I would actually like to have people see is that this "squatting" isn't
just effecting businesses...it's effecting communities of people. People who
gather and make great friends online. People who just want to have fun. And
that fun can continue, but it is heartless thoughts that allow what's going
on, even after it's been brought to their attention.
And then to make it virtually impossible by retaliating and hiking the
prices beyond reach....well that's right out "slum lording"of a facility.

[View Quote] The community is really pulling together on this issue, and I have NEVER
once doubted that the pen and paper are strong weapons. Maybe we can't sue
the company (except for Alphabit), but boy can we write. If we send letter
around, to other domain owners who've also lost their domain unjustly, we
can at least get eyes on this company, at best a lawsuit. But we're too much
of a society based on suing as it is, let's just hurt them with online
lynching, sorta. Word of mouth is all it takes to ruin a company, squatting
or not.

Maybe I'm a bit biased, Cybor and I went into this awnews.com project
together, and I'm forever in debt to Goober King for taking a project that
takes a LOT of time and effort (and initiative, writing news stories isn't
the funnest thing to do on a Saturday night). As a former reporter of
awnews, I have to say awnews.org might be practical (and I don't mind having
it as our domain), but I'm rooting for our old domain, it's history,
sentimentalality, and etc. We're the AW Community folks! ;) Nothing can face
our wrath.


--
From the Newbie's Guide to the AW NG:

"Nornny11 - The original wishy-washy man, this one can actually insult you
and compliment you in the same breath, and in the end say absolutely
nothing! What a talent!"
[View Quote]

Sep 19, 2002, 11:21am

This was sent to me from our dear Beardo:)

Hi Bit! :-)

I can't answer in the ng since my citizenship has expired but you all
have my support if needed! I hope this goes your way and that they soon
will release the domain name too Goob. AWNews.com is the best source for
information about AW besides the ng's.

Best regards to you and the Community! :-)

Beardo

Sep 19, 2002, 6:14pm

Do a search for Berkens on this page
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2001/d2001-1214.html

I told ya'll I have alot of spare time....AND I have some great search
engines....LOL

Sep 19, 2002, 6:25pm

I think this companies site is associated in some way maybe as main hoster
or something?
and this url mentions in their policies under disputes;

Section 4.2.1. Circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have
acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or
otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who
is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that
complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented
out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or

http://iaregistry.com/dispute.html

Sep 19, 2002, 6:30pm

Goobs...your getting offers.
I personally would go for it:)
I would love to help out financially, but right now all I have is time:(

[View Quote] [View Quote]
--
Goober King
$325 for a $35 domain?...
robrod at prism.net

Sep 21, 2002, 3:19pm

Ok the Governer of North Carolina Governor Michael F. Easley can be
contacted at http://www.governor.state.nc.us/email.asp?to=1
Just sent my concern:)

Sep 21, 2002, 3:58pm

Ok.....now I do a search of who is for awnews.com and mostwanteddomains.com
still shows as owner but when I go to their site its shows as not available?
Yes...I have taken snapshots of the pricing etc:)
Even saved the page...LOL

Sep 18, 2002, 7:57pm

One of mine also Facter. And a past recipient of a Cy Award.

[View Quote] Ive been waiting or the site to come back online , one of my fav's :)

F.

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 8:01pm

Ok Goobs.....I need a detailed story of how all this came about to submit to
some media folks.
Brief but complete.
Asap please:)
Thanks!
Bit:)

[View Quote] [View Quote] Ive been waiting or the site to come back online , one of my fav's :)

F.

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 11:39pm

LOL...you silly goose:)

[View Quote]

Sep 19, 2002, 3:09pm

Thanks Goobs...I will make a web page with the story to direct the media to.
The fact that they retaliated by hiking the price to 10 grand might fall
under a consumer law.
There are some other things that has happened here that are also
questionable that they have done.
I am researching now at www.icann.com which seems to be a main source for
internet conduct by retailers and consumers.
I don't know about the rest of the folks here, but I'm not giving up.
I have worked the retail industry for over 30 years, and when a wrong is
done it has to be righted.
btw...the worst customer a retailer can have is one that has been a
retailer....LOL
I am awaiting contact from a reporter to give local media an opportunity at
this isssue...then I hit the big guys:)
You might want to grab a .org or .net in the meanwhile so certain parties
don't squat on them also.
But then if they do...they will only be executing even more bad retailing
practice.
I have at least 10 hours a day to devote to researching and persuing this.
I'll keep you posted:)
Hugggs:)
Bit:)

[View Quote] As I had already stated, Cybor had decided to let the domain expire and I
was to pick it up
when it went public. According to Cybor, the account expired on August 1,
2002. However,
when I contacted register.com, the registrar of the awnews.com domain, about
the possibility
of transferring the account to me, I was told that it can take upwards of
two months for a
domain to go public after it has expired, so I was advised to have Cybor
renew the account
and then transfer it to me. But since Cybor felt that the transfer process
was far too
tedious, he decided to continue to let the account expire.

Over the next few weeks, I occasionally visited register.com to check on
awnews.com status,
and the WHOIS information continued to claim the domain was owned by Cybor.
Thinking that
the domain wasn't very valuable outside of AW, given that all the other
awnews domains were
still available, I didn't pay much attention.

On Sept 11th, (talk about bad timing...) I received a telegram from fellow
AWNews staffer
Padfoot, letting me know that the awnews.com domain was for sale.
Understandably excited, I
went to register.com to register the domain, only to find out it was still
taken. Only this
time, it wasn't Cybor's name on the WHOIS, but Worldwide Media, Inc., owner
of
MostWantedDomains.com. They had registered the domain through the registrar
IAregistry.com

Needless to say, I was thoroughly pissed off. Going to "www.awnews.com"
brought up a web
page proclaiming that the site was for sale. At the bottom was a tiny form
where you could
make an offer for the domain, however the space next to "Asking Price" was
blank. So, I
offered them $35, which is what I would've had to pay if I had registered it
with
register.com. I also added the comment "You stole my domain and I want it
back!"

The next day, I received an email from Michael H. Berkens, President of
Worldwide Media,
Inc., essentially saying that they got my domain fair and square because I
hadn't renewed
it. Conceding that he had a point, I replied by explaining my situation to
him and asking
him what I would have to do in order to get the domain back. He responded
simply with
"$1,250". Naturally, I scoffed at that price and replied with the following:

"Surely you jest. There's no way I'm going to pay that much money for a
collection of
letters that I *could* have bought for $35 had you not snatched it up for
apparently no
reason other than greed. I was even willing to go as high as $70 just so you
could make a
profit, but if that's not enough for you, then you've just wasted $35 in
buying that domain,
since I can almost guarantee you won't find another buyer for awnews.com;
certainly not one
willing to pay over $1000 for it."

I have yet to hear back from him, and that message was sent almost a week
ago (9/13). Soon
after I sent that message, I noticed that the Asking Price for awnews.com
had finally been
filled in, to the tune of $10,000. Figuring I'd never get it back from the
greedy bastard
now, I resigned myself to looking for alternative domains for AWNews to use,
which brings us
to now.

After ABP started up the cause, I did a little research into Worldwide
Media, Inc. Turns out
that Worldwide Media and Michael H. Berkens are actually one in the same
(much like InSaNiTy
and Heartfall Productions). I also found out that WWM has gone to court over
this exact
thing before, but won because the complainant couldn't prove that the domain
name was
confusingly similar to their trademark.

After examining register.com's Dispute Policy, I found a ray of hope for our
little crusade
in the following paragraphs:

"a. Applicable Disputes. You are required to submit to a mandatory
administrative proceeding
in the event that a third party (a "complainant") asserts to the applicable
Provider, in
compliance with the Rules of Procedure, that (i) your domain name is
identical or
confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant
has rights; and
(ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain
name; and (iii)
your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. In the
administrative
proceeding, the complainant must prove that each of these three elements are
present.

b. Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of
Paragraph 4(a)(iii),
the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found
by the Panel to
be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name
in bad faith: (i)
circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the
domain name
primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the
domain name
registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service
mark or to a
competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your
documented
out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or (ii) you have
registered the
domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark
from reflecting
the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a
pattern of such
conduct; or (iii) you have registered the domain name primarily for the
purpose of
disrupting the business of a competitor; or (iv) by using the domain name,
you have
intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to
your web site or
other online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the
complainant's mark as
to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or
location or of a
product or service on your web site or location."

Translation: If we're going to have any success at this, we MUST prove that
all three of
these actions have taken place:

1) The domain is identical to a trademark (TM or SM) that I have rights to
2) That WWM has no rights or legitimate interests in awnews.com
3) That WWM is using the awnews.com domain in bad faith, including but not
limited to
purchasing the domain for the main purpose of selling the domain back to the
former owner at
an inflated cost.

So that's everything I know. I can tell you all right now that I have no
trademarks on
AWNews whatsoever, so that may kill us right there. Perhaps you guys could
talk to your
legal friends about all this, but I honestly don't see much good coming of
this. :-/

Oh, and for those who might be thinking that I'm making all this up *glares
pointedly at the
lurkers*, here are references to all the info I just mentioned:

http://www.awnews.com/default.php?stat=yes - the domain name in question,
which displays the
$10,000 Asking Price
http://www.register.com/dispute-policy.cgi?1|3374924395| - register.com's
Dispute Policy
(similar to IAregistry.com's Dispute Policy)
http://www.register.com/whois-results.cgi?dacb02ad2bb54a78f1c7b08942ed18afdd
3dc793383e4fe56498f89cd3f8a9d38403efb03eeeba61
- WHOIS information for AWNews.com
http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/decisions/99675.htm - RentRight, Inc. v.
Worldwide Media
Inc. a/k/a Michael Berkens

--
Goober King
Let the fun begin...
robrod at prism.net

Sep 19, 2002, 6:03pm

These urls are VERY interesting:)
Check out who hosts these sites!
Also...everyone please be very careful what you say using this guys name or
company name.
This needs to be handled professionally and above the law.

http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-help/2002-February/023332.html

http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-help/2002-February/023351.html

https://secure.tldsystems.com/cgi-bin/opensrs/domaindecisions/cgi/whois.cgi?
hostname=BOYSTRIPPERS.COM

Sep 19, 2002, 6:05pm

Strike....please be careful what you say ok?:)...Thanks sweetie:)

[View Quote] - Mark

[View Quote]

Sep 19, 2002, 6:18pm

Well.....this is what I got when I did a search

[SC-Help] Bulls**t - ... 07-14-2010 Database last updated 02-15-2002
04:45:23 AM Domain servers in listed order: NS1.MOSTWANTEDDOMAINS.COM
198.87.241.30 NS2.THIS-DOMAIN-IS-4-SALE.COM ...
http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-help/2002-February/023332.html

Sep 19, 2002, 6:29pm

Just found this.....a college complaining about this type of thing also
regarding the same company;

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/02/10/SouthPinellas/College_upset_over_li.shtml

You folks are going to have to tell me when to stop...LOL

Sep 19, 2002, 6:32pm

Hmmmm....look who's getting spam complaints?:)
http://www.discosf.com/john/killspam.html

Sep 19, 2002, 6:35pm

Yep...definately the same person Goobs....Was in FL now NC.

Sep 19, 2002, 6:43pm

Looks like they have also effected the movie industry
http://www.growingresults.com/article/s0/a113439.html

Sep 19, 2002, 6:54pm

Well....it may seem silly...I just don't want anyone having problems from
this:)

[View Quote] - Mark
[View Quote]

Sep 19, 2002, 7:12pm

This page is long...you might want to just read the threads referring to
gnu.org domain status.
It looks like the company ends up "donating" the domain names to certain
organizations.
I read somewhere that some squatters raise the price then donate for tax
writeoffs.
What government organizations handle stuff like this?
IRS?:)

Sep 19, 2002, 7:17pm

Oops...forgot the url:)
http://mail.gnu.org/pipermail/dotgnu-sc/2002-July/thread.html#31

[View Quote]

Sep 19, 2002, 7:28pm

Ok...In-and-out-burgers.com Went to court on the squatting issue here;
http://www.courthousenews.com/cda/X-08/newcom08.html

Then when I see who is at that domain it's the hamburger restaurant that has
it now
http://www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois?STRING=inandout.com&SearchType=do
You have to search for Berkens to find the court docket.
I think there is a ton of history on this company.

Sep 20, 2002, 12:45am

Thanks eric:)
Sometimes it isn't money that can make things happen:)

[View Quote]

Sep 20, 2002, 1:45pm

Even if we don't "stop" this squatter at least we can attempt to make a
difference...there are places people can go on record for such
behavior...Better Business Bureau , Internet Business Bureau etc etc.
When we say "the little people can't make a difference" we give up and don't
make a difference.


[View Quote] --
Brock - 308723
AW 3.4 Build: 431
Brock at iceflare.net

Sep 20, 2002, 4:01pm

Well...if anyone checks the BBB before using a company at least there would
be some record there.
And yes...the FTC is on my list also.
Thanks SW Chris:)

[View Quote] Chris

[View Quote]

Sep 20, 2002, 4:01pm

Yet another project...saving all the sites to favorites now to contact them.

[View Quote] Chris

[View Quote]

Sep 21, 2002, 2:29pm

I just filed my complaint with the Federal trade Commission.
If anyone else cares to, the site is www.ftc.gov

Sep 21, 2002, 2:31pm

Oh....the following is what I sent to them;

Success!
Complaint Accepted. Thank you for your input.


First Name: Beverly
Last Name: Tuttle
Age Range: 40 - 49
Street Address: *taken out:)
City: Austin
State or Canadian Province: Texas
Country: UNITED STATES
Zip Code or Postal Code: 78752
E-Mail Address: alphabit at swbell.net
Home Phone: (taken out:)
Subject of Your Complaint: Computers/Internet Services
Name of Company You Are Complaining About: Worldwide Media, Inc.
Street Address: PO Box 129
City: Highlands
State or Canadian Province: North Carolina
Country: UNITED STATES
Zip Code or Postal Code: 28741
Company Web Site: www.MostWantedDomains.biz
Company E-Mail Address: Admin at MostWantedDomains.biz
Phone Number: (262)548-1977Ext.
How Did the Company Initially Contact You?: e-mail
How Much Did the Company Ask You to Pay?: n/a
How Much Did You Actually Pay the Company?: n/a
How Did You Pay the Company?: Unknown
First Name Michael
Last Name: Berkens
Date Company Contacted You: 09/18/2002 (MM/DD/YYYY)
Explain Your Problem: (Please limit your complaint to 2000 characters.):
This company is a domain squatting company. They grabbed a domain name that
should have sold for 35.00, offered it for 1,250.00 then after being
contacted for a pleading to release it for the normal costs, upped the price
to 10,000.00. They also accused me of requesting people spam them. This
domain name (awnews.com) was owned by a non commercial user, and was an
intergal part of a chat community. I have found several instances of Michael
Berkens grabbing domain names and doing the same thing then "donating" them
to the original owners at the 10 grand. I feel they acted in retaliatory
measures and have also accused my character of something it is not. Please
help us out. Sincerely,
Beverly Tuttle

Sep 21, 2002, 2:49pm

Oh...and here's government contacts in North Carolina;
http://www.ncgov.com/asp/subpages/intention.asp?P=4&I=7

Sep 19, 2002, 7:54pm

I checked the Better Business Bureau and this is all they had when the
company was in Florida;

http://www.clearwater.bbb.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/mis67/re
port.php&bureau=clear&compid=18002305&national=Y

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