I have noticed this for a few year. If I am looking to start a new domain, I use a browser to check if there is a web site first. I try to only enter a domain at a registrar when I am ready to sign up.

For those who don't know how to argue:

The information VCSY longs have dug up (I rarely find this stuff - others find it and pass it along to me and I simply present what they find in public posts) over the past two years since Vista was delayed indicate the following small sample of what appears to be there:

(the reader will please excuse me if each of these points is brief - there is very much to say, but Yahoo only allows 4000 characters per post - I can burp 4000 characters)

The following are indications teased out of a mass of information accumulated since 2000. Do your own due diligence and verify for yourself what is said here. You are responsible for your own study and knowledge.

I do not provide rationale for some of the statements I will make as those areas have been discussed ad nauseum on other forums. I will simply make the statements here and depend on the reader to derive questions that can be answered, should the reader have sufficient brains to ask.

A list of indicated states and opinions:

1. VCSY is operating in a stealth manner similar to the way Chuck Feeney, VCSY CEO Richard Wade's boss from Duty Free Shoppers, operates.

2. VCSY patents (6826744, 7076521 and 6718103 aka 744, 521, 103) account for three fundamental bridges to bring the existing internet technology realm to a next generation position. 744 for an arbitrary and agnostic ecology, 521 for granular virtualization and cross-platform enablement, 103 for ultra-wide data transport and real-time interoperation over optical fiber.

3. Beginning in 2000, VCSY began a relationship with Apollo Industries that culminated in VCSY developing a distributed cross-platform ecology for smartcard construction and operation. This system is referred to in some PRs as Apollo-smart. The assembled system now goes by the name of Transtar.

4. Beginning in 2001, IBM and VCSY began a stealth relationship that began with IBM touting the work of VCSY/Emily Solutions XML Enabler Agent - IBM retired their own XML Enabler at the time.

5. Made public in 2007, Verizon began a relationship with VCSY/NOW Solutions to host NOW Solutions SaaS model emPath. emPath is a system designed to integrate for interoperation various third-party applications and platforms with Microsoft .Net products.

6. If you will note, IBM, Adobe and Verizon are the three major software players most capable of fielding successful SOA and RIA efforts. I offer a challenge to anyone who thinks they can argue that point. Please try.

7. IBM appears to have access to 744 and 521. IBM's work with DB2 9 (codename Viper1 and Viper2) provides XML capability far advanced beyond anything offered by Oracle or Microsoft or any other database vendor. Their Eclipse system has the ability to integrate the various 5000+ government IT systems of the Indian Government into a single coherent interoperable website.

8. Adobe appears to have access to 521. Adobe's AIR/Flex (codename Apollo) stands alone in the ability to step beyond anything offered or promised by AJAX + Comet technologies or any other technology intended for the construction of robust "web-applications".

9. Verizon appears to have access to 103. Verizon recently completed a test of a 312 mile long single fiber link between Miami and Tampa with a throughput rate of 100Bbps on one wavelength os light. 103 predicts ultra-speed bandwidth transmission over long lengths of fiber. No other data transmission players have demonstrated this kind of superior throughput over long haul.

10. Microsoft should have been the top player in items described by 744 and 521. Instead, they are behind all others claiming to be satisfied taking a different route maintaining past technology methods rather than efforts comparable to IBM or Adobe. This is stark contrast to the kind of technologies predicted by the various "digital decade" speeches made by Bill Gates beginning in 2000.

There is much more, but, I thought I might begin with these to allow the conversation to focus on a manageable chunk of contentions. Of course, I admonish you to do your own diligent study and draw your own conclusions. Please take what I say to an expert who can give you an unbiased informed opinion.

what user db has mentioned is absolutely correct. i have been collecting tons and tons of domain for years now and have a lot of experience about how a lot of TLD works and their variations and registrar work.

let me add some thing more to db. never trust any registrar. they are all resellers. there are only handful of top level registrar and you never know which one of them works like network solutions, considering the fact that any top level registrar can do same.

the best thing to do is, have your credit card and your mind set to buy the domain if is available. this is a forest and there is no second chance. dont complain like a baby.

hope this helps.

though i don't like netsol for several reasons (full rfc support, being one) how do registrar's prevent someone from registering a name while another registrar is in the middle of checkout for the same name? I'm sure this isn't a likley scenario, but i'd bet that's what netsol's excuse will be.

Network Solutions has always been pure scum.

And frontrunning and domain tasting isn’t new to them, I did a write up almost exactly a year ago about NetSol doing the same thing:

http://www.swingnote.com/netsol/networksolutions_whois.php

Just FYI, I tried to check out the link to the article by Steven J. Vaughan Nichols which chronicles the Network Solutions shenanigans (nice choice of word!), but for some reason the link took me to an E-Week article about politics and the election... entitled "Internet Polling Fails in N.H."

Otherwise, I agree wholeheartedly with your article. This really is an abuse of the public trust.

I learned several years ago of Network Solutions' unethical business model, so I followed the same procedure to register my domains as "db" and "domain collector" above. I would never do an official domain availability check except as part of my purchase and check out procedure. I'm surprised Network Solutions has escaped sanctions this long, but maybe they found an influential palm to grease, blinding regulators to this cybersquatting variant. In any case, thanks to writer Joe Wilcox for collecting more evidence.

"law's exact definition of cybersquatting"

ACPA may have stated certain criteria for cybersquatting. But go through it again and see if you can find a legal definition.

Additionally:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/10/Network-Solutions-stands-by-name-policy_1.html

"Mitchell added that if ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization that oversees the domain name system, would move to cut down on these type of scams, then his company wouldn't have to engage in this kind of automatic search registration. "We would be perfectly happy to end this process if ICANN or the registries would do something to protect small businesses or other small users," he said."

So there you go, folks: they'll stop it if ICANN stops it. If they don't after ICANN adopts a solution, they'll be taking unnecessary and unjustified risks.

The Philippine Domain administrator, DotPH, has also been abusing its mandate for many years. DotPH does not have a publicly-accessible whois server and has thus far refused to make one available. The administrator himself treats the .PH domain as his personal property and even described it as such in one of his public statements. DotPH manages the DNS servers that point to the ph.edu domains and will not allow online DNS changes without a fee. The administrator is not accountable to anyone in the Philippines and can make arbitrrary changes in pricing and policies.

The Philippine government at one time already decided to petition for redelegation, but that initiative has languished since the government changed the people in charge. Philippine internet users have long been trying to reform the current .PH regime for years, but there has been little success.

This is also one area where abuses are rampant, but little has been done.

What can be done about this? Is there a lawsuite that can filed? I cannot believe they are doing this and its worse than ever...

Went to godaddy to buy a domain, entered - checked price vs network solutiosn - went back to purchase from godaddy and the site is now unavialble -- WELL its now only available thru network solutions for a pice increase.

NETWORK SOLUTIONS IS THE DEVIL

Does anyone know how long the "temp" lock lasts for?

Does anyone know of "safe" ways to search for potential domains? What sites are safe?

Thanks

I used Network solutions site to search for a domain name I was interested in. They then used that information to front run me and reserve it and ransom it at a higher price.

I can't imagine what they do to you when you become a customer.

They're registered with the BBB so I encourage everyone to complain to the BBB here:

http://www.dc.bbb.org/commoncomplaint.html?step=1

Network solutions just cybersquatted on a name I searched. It was available, and now it is not:

Domain Name: AGUANOMICS.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS1.RESERVEDDOMAINNAME.COM
Name Server: NS2.RESERVEDDOMAINNAME.COM
Status: clientHold
Updated Date: 24-mar-2008
Creation Date: 24-mar-2008
Expiration Date: 24-mar-2009

Bastards!