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Sep 18, 2002, 12:53pm

Ok Community,

I just wrote a email to the owners of the Domain name registrar that is
requiring that rediculous fee for us to have our AWNews.com domain name
back:)
I pleaded with them that it was a community news place and no other
persons would be interested in purchasing it in the future.
The personal email I got was mike at mostwanteddomains.biz .
Hey everyone, I think we can make a difference if we email them in
numbers.
If you can please email the above and nicely request they ask the normal
domain name reg fees, I really really think they might listen.
After you have emailed them, maybe come back here and post what you
sent. Let's see how big our voice in AW really is:) Plus I can use copies of
your emails to them for other future purposes if needed:)
Also, maybe gram all your friends asking the same. Heck...email your
family and friends outside AW and ask them to make that request also...LOL
My next step if they don't come to some terms will be to contact IRL
media:)
btw....anyone know if there is any copywrite protection if a domain name
has been used for a certain length of time?

Good luck Goobs:)
Bit:)

Sep 18, 2002, 1:25pm

ya, the name is automaticly copyrighted i believe. like someone registering
microsoft.net (which isnt possible anyway lol). that would go against name
copyright laws.

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 2:17pm

Ok...the plot thickens.
Someone out there REALLY doesn't like me....LOL

This is the header I received from the domain service;

Subject: Fw: This person is promoting mass spamming of your company

And here is the message;
We have found this posting to a newsgroup promoting spamming against us
regarding the domain awnews.com

First of all this will not work. We are not just going to give someone our
property.

Those who sponsored the site awnews.com did not pay their fees.

We are not the ones who required the fees be paid.

We are not the ones who failed to pay the fees.

Did you know the fees can be paid for up to 10 years in advance??? We are
not the ones who elected to pay the fees for one year at a time, risking the
loss of the name if they are not timely paid rather than paying them for 10
year and not have to worry about it until 2012.

We own this domain. We could have elected not to even give the previous
owner a price. We could have told them simply we want the name and we are
not going to sell it. We did offer to sell it a price which is quite low in
the domain name industry where name sell for tens of thousands of dollars
with greatly regularity, as a courtesy to them. At this point we will just
keep the name.

The previous owner can simply register another name like awnews.net, org,
..biz or .info and tell all there members about the change and continue with
the same content. Of course if they don't pay their fees on the new domain
they will someday lose that one too.

Second of all you are promoting spam which is illegal. If we do get spam
regarding this issue we will file a complain against with your ISP using
your posting.

I know southwest bell will have no tolerance for such action and would
cancel your account.

Govern yourself accordingly.


Very truly yours,


Michael H. Berkens
President
Worldwide Media, Inc.

http://www.mostwanteddomains.com

And here is my reply;
Dear Michael,

I am sorry if you consider my requesting people contact you regarding a
community concern as a form of spamming.
I honestly felt that this was an issue that concerned alot of people who
enjoyed a domain site that gave to our community,
and that possibly you folks would reconsider.
Obviously not.
Going forward I will post our communication that you and I have in our
community newsgroup as an informational topic, but will not ask that they
contact you.
It will be up to them, whether they decide to make contact with you
regarding this situation.
There is no law posting email communications in newsgroups, so I should
be ok legally right?
I will also consider your comment about turning me into my internet
provider as a threat against me for practicing freedom of speech.
I have spent 5 years volunteering to the activeworlds community for an
online awards program, and in that 5 years, I have become very close to all
of them.
When I see a business do what you have for the almighty dollar, then it
saddens my heart that you can't reconsider knowing the facts.

Sincerely,

Beverly Tuttle
aka AlphaBit Phalpha

Ok...whoever narked on me....if you have any backbone come forward:)

Sep 18, 2002, 2:29pm

He's a domain squater, which are becomming illegal as if you registered the domain
first, you have a layover period of 1-2 years, due to some sort of law they're
passing to get rid of these squatters. All they do is sit and wait for the old owner
to come back and pay them 4x's as much as they paid.

Basically, a get rich quick scheme (which are illegal, this is a form of the pyramid
scheme). We may actually have a case against these people, if we bring this to the
US courts, if we have a substantial amount of people coming forward to support it.

This wasn't spam, nor is it considerably close enough. I have a couple of characters
in my head who'd report that as spam.

--Bowen--

Sep 18, 2002, 2:34pm

Yes Bowen...I also have a few ideas also who would have reported this:)
I have to tell you, even if I lose my swbell account over this, I'm not
giving up:)
In the process of going through my media contacts now.
And to the person that reported me. You have claimed a false charge against
me.
Defamation of character. That doesn't make me happy:)

Sep 18, 2002, 2:43pm

Yes, the defamation of character is another thing, as it wasn't intended to be SPAM
in nature. To the person that did report this. Have you not seen SPAM *ever* before
in your life? It is such things as "Get rich quick!!!!!!!" and maybe "FREE CELEBS
NUDE."

Hundreds of people e-mailing because they *care* is entirely different then recieving
hundreds of e-mails of spam from one e-mail account just to get you to look at their
page. It's like people e-mailing their senators to get a law changed, or to the
leader of a country to not go to war. It *IS* not SPAM. This cause is justifiable
and has a purpose. It would be spam if 100's of people wrote "you sux," but alphabit
seems more trying to promote intelligent e-mails to the company in question.

Even closer consideration of this makes me think more so that this would win a case
in a small claims court, and even the further up you get (consumers are protected
before businesses) it would still win. $10,000 is a little asinine, even in web
standards. Unless we're talking about aol.com or the likes.

--Bowen--

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 2:51pm

Well Bowen, as I see it, examples need to be made in a situation like this.

The person that reported this doesn't realize that the message was forwarded
from them to the domain site and then to me. So they are trackable.
When I see someone purposely attempt to ruin something that is meant to be a
caring move for others, then I see alot of bitterness and misunderstanding
on their part. And I personally feel sorry for them:(

Am I pissed? You bet:) But at the same time I feel sad for the nark:(


[View Quote] Hundreds of people e-mailing because they *care* is entirely different then
recieving
hundreds of e-mails of spam from one e-mail account just to get you to look
at their
page. It's like people e-mailing their senators to get a law changed, or to
the
leader of a country to not go to war. It *IS* not SPAM. This cause is
justifiable
and has a purpose. It would be spam if 100's of people wrote "you sux," but
alphabit
seems more trying to promote intelligent e-mails to the company in question.

Even closer consideration of this makes me think more so that this would win
a case
in a small claims court, and even the further up you get (consumers are
protected
before businesses) it would still win. $10,000 is a little asinine, even in
web
standards. Unless we're talking about aol.com or the likes.

--Bowen--

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 2:53pm

Anyway to get that e-mail saved and sent to me so I can check the headers out? :)

--Bowen--

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 2:57pm

Well.....I would love to Bowen, but I really don't want to hurt the nark
more than they have hurt themselves already:(
If word got out who done it, I am sure they would get mass grammed with
protests, I really don't want to subject them to that:)

[View Quote] --Bowen--

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 2:58pm

LoL I'll just tell you, I won't post it. I'm gone in a few days anyways due to my
cit expiring. ;)

--Bowen--

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 3:01pm

*Thwack*....noooooooo......LOL

Sep 18, 2002, 3:10pm

I emailed the puke.......:) & i feel better...:)

Leo :) aka BinaryBud


[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 3:16pm

You brave person you...LOL
I just got to thinking, If that company costs me my only connection with my
daughters in Oregon, that would be an added loss....hmmmmmm...

Sep 18, 2002, 3:18pm

Ok, well ive got an idea. everyone in aw go on an Worldwide Media, Inc.
strike. no one use there service, and tell everyone not to. oh, and that
michael guy can goto my isp i dont care, they wont cancel my account, since
a) im in libya, b) i really doubt they would close my account anyway.

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 3:21pm

Now SWE...please don't be getting yourself in trouble ok?

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 3:48pm

[View Quote] Pardon my language, but that is pure bullshit. One person sending email to a company to express an opinion is not spam. Spam is unsolicited *COMMERCIAL* email.

> I know southwest bell will have no tolerance for such action and would cancel your account.

Well since it has nothing to do with them and you wouldn't be sending any actual spam, he's just blowing smoke...

-Agent1

Sep 18, 2002, 4:40pm

LoL I don't have that much money right now. Anyone want to renew it for me? ;)

--Bown--

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 5:58pm

After a quick search of the USPTO TESS (trademarks), I found no trademarks
on "awnews" or "aw news", which means we might be able to register awnews
as a trademark, in which case they won't have much choice but to give it to
us. Thing is, this cost $325... So, if we can manage to do a bit of fund
raising and get this ammount, we might be able to get it back :-))

KAH

Sep 18, 2002, 6:02pm

As a community non-profit organization I think Goobs could register it for
far less. But I'm not sure if it is registered or trademarked after the fact
if it would be binding.
There may be a clause however since it was being used currently that he
might have a case.
I just hope the folks at the domain registration reconsider.

[View Quote] KAH

Sep 18, 2002, 6:03pm

Cyber Squatting is the practice of registering a desirable domain name in the hope that you will be able to sell it to someone else for a much inflated price.


[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 6:06pm

> Cyber Squatting is the practice of registering a desirable domain name in the hope
that you will be able to sell it to someone else for a much inflated price.

How was I wrong with this? That is exactly what this guy is doing, I don't think
he's made too much money. Most Cyber Squatters register names that expire and were
really popular. In hopes the owner will come back and increase their profit 500%
(they register for $10 and charge them $50).

--Bowen--

Sep 18, 2002, 6:07pm

> As a community non-profit organization I think Goobs could register it for
> far less. But I'm not sure if it is registered or trademarked after the fact
> if it would be binding.
> There may be a clause however since it was being used currently that he
> might have a case.
> I just hope the folks at the domain registration reconsider.

It would, this is how a few of the squatters get the domains they want. The only
thing I can suggest is to take it to court as an intellectual copyright (and have
proof you owned it first and the original owner has vanished).

--Bowen--

Sep 18, 2002, 6:11pm

Cybersquatting is the act of registering a popular Internet address--usually a company name--with the intent of selling it to its rightful owner.

Comparing cybersquatting to online extortion, Senator Spencer Abraham, a Michigan Republican, has introduced to Congress the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. This bill, if enacted, would make cybersquatting illegal. Violators would be charged a fine of up to $300,000.





this might motivate the squatter to release the domain...:)



Leo :)





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K1TE&.#EA`0`!`(#_`,# P ```"'Y! $`````+ `````!``$```("1 $`.P``
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begin 666 www.webopedia.com at 468x60-1,468x60-2,125x125-1,336x280,336x280,125x800,cp1,cp2,cp3,cp4,cp5,cp6,cp7!336x280
K1TE&.#EA`0`!`(#_`,# P ```"'Y! $`````+ `````!``$```("1 $`.P``
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end

Sep 18, 2002, 6:15pm

I said that earlier too! Not in that deep of specifics though. :P

--Bowen--

[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 6:16pm

heres a good read on the laws...:)

http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v7n3/kilian73.html

Leo :)


[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 6:18pm

i did not say you were wrong at all Bowen hehehehe just trying to add more info to the issue..... :) I'll be posting more later..;) we need to let this guy know we are not ignorant to the subject and that HE actually IS...:)




[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 6:20pm

mellow out Bowen....heheheh If ya want i'll tack this notice on my posts...hehehehe

*may have been mentioned by Bowen previously.

LOL
Leo :)


[View Quote]

Sep 18, 2002, 6:41pm

While I must confess that I'm surprised at all this outpouring of
support for AWNews, I would rather not make a huge deal out of all this.
In the grand scheme of things, it's just a bunch of letters and we can
easily just change our name to AWNews.whatever.

As for going after MWD.com, I have never owned the AWNews.com domain.
It's always been owned by Cybor, so if anyone could take up legal action
over all this, it would have to be him. And considering that his
interest levels in AW right now are zero, I don't see that happening any
time soon. And even if that Cyber Squatter law gets passed, I get the
feeling that it won't be retro-active.

So I've learned my lesson and will be more vigilant when it comes to
domains. And while MWD's tactics may not be fair, I'll just have to hope
that the lack of buyers will make them release the domain. In the
meantime, we move on and get ourselves a new domain and a new name. I'm
sure everyone here will be perfectly capable of updating any AWNews
links they may have when the time comes. :)

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
With no more CYs, Bit must be looking for something to do... ;P
robrod at prism.net

Sep 18, 2002, 6:52pm

Also, just to clarify, the asking price they gave me was $1,250, not
$100,000. Though, this was before they actually posted an asking price
on the website, so it could be that they're not offering the lower price
anymore...

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Gotta love inflation! :P
robrod at prism.net

Sep 18, 2002, 6:53pm

[View Quote] I am apphauled by the obscenity of that price. It grosses me out completely. I
never thought I could see capitalism in any worse light... I guess I was wrong.

--Bowen--

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