How Effective is Online Dispute Resolution? 38
An anonymous reader asks: "I recently had a website stolen from my ownership and removed from my hosting company. The hosting companies all say that everything looked legitimate to them, but I know it isn't and I can prove it. ICANN, WIPO and other dispute resolution services are expensive and I do not have the money to pursue. What alternatives are there as far as online dispute resolutions and other forms of mediation? I have talked to a computer lawyer and they were of no help because they were not familiar with this situation either. What methods of dispute resolution (auctions, domain names, etc.) have others at Slashdot used? How effective are they?"
Russian mafia (Score:3, Funny)
+1 Insightful (Score:2, Insightful)
Highly recommended, especially over the alternatives.
Re:+1 Insightful (Score:2)
That post just gives me the shudders. Or maybe it's the +2 insightful?
Well, I suspect the Russian Mafia will have one less customer after the Sicilians and the Chinese learn that you consider them to be boobs. Which begs the question: does the Mafia take offense to being called sleazy criminals?
Re:+1 Insightful (Score:2)
Re:+1 Insightful (Score:2)
Expensive (Score:3, Insightful)
To have knowledgable unbiased people say anything useful, they have to become familiar with the case. This costs a lot of time, thus money. Besides that, it costs you a lot of time.
So, if you think dispute resolution is more expensive than your loss, don't take that route, but take your loss. Learn from your experience.
Next time select a trustworthy hosting provider. Make sure you have a clause in your contract that prevents this kind of problems.
Re:Expensive (Score:1)
This isn't going to go over with the PC crowd... but the reason people even try these things is because there is no real penalty. How many people here have spent a night or two in jail? It's no big deal, let me assure you.
The justice system is getting way to lax (or has it always been that way)? Deferred
Re:Expensive (Score:2)
You speak as if you have experience with this matters. So let me ask you: isn't there a risk of becoming the next Mitnick, and spending 5 years of your life in jail? Or is that considered just too remote a possibility, like winning the lottery? Or is it not considered at all, either because it is remote, or because criminals habitually do not have long-term vision to evaluate their odds over the course of a career?
I find it interesting that the back of the 'zine 2600 includes ads from "hackers", purpo
Re:Expensive (Score:1)
Also, a lot of criminals survive just because people don't care enough to enforce the laws. I have friends that will go to Wal-Mart, take a DVD, walk right out with the buzzer and little flashing orange lights going off, get in their car and drive away. Does anyone come running afte
Re:Expensive (Score:2)
As far as being on probation being "time out", most people in jail (at least locally, I don't know the stats) are there because of violation of probation. Probation itself is no cakewalk, and is rather intrusive in one's life.
I don't want this to devolve into some lame political rant, though I have to wonder if you'd rather give people a chance with alternatives to jail before we lock them
Re:Expensive (Score:1)
There are simply not enough jails or officers to make a dent in the crime problem. Most people just don't notice (nor the FBI) because most crime happens between criminals. The average person would have a nervous breakdown if they truly knew how unsafe they are.
Re:Expensive (Score:1)
Re:Expensive (Score:1)
Most people that have drug habits have other "bad" habits as a result, and those are the threat to me.
Re:Expensive (Score:1)
Persistance is a virtue. (Score:1, Interesting)
Then start looking into suing them. They helped another person steal your property. It doesn't really matter that they thought they were being helpful. I might be inclined to file a police report. It's new, you read slashdot, experiment. I'd find out as much as I could about this area of law, and try to sue them in my jurisdiction in small claims. I'd write my representatives at every level, my
Re:Are you serious? (Score:1)
Tell me you've actually wrote your "representatives at every level" and "maybe the occasional newspaper" over an issue that no one really cares about and I will be very surprised.
move it back.. (Score:2)
i know, it's not a real solution and possible illegal, so you might want to try the other options before trying.
(oh yeah and if you can spot an error in the hosting companys behauvior, skipping necessary checks & etc, you could t
Stolen Domains Typically a Registrar Issue... (Score:5, Informative)
If the domain was registered for them by their webhost, then they need to contact them again and ask what domain name registrar(s) they use.
Once they have contacted the proper registrar (there are about 100 of them to choose from, plus zillions of resellers), they'll likely be a lot closer to know what happened.
Another important detail is was the domain name active (website working) and then suddenly went "dead", etc or was it the domain one that was "forgotten" about for awhile?
Some possibilities...
* Either one got control of the registrar account for the domain or they tricked their registrar in releasing it and transferring it to another registrar and took control over it that way.
* The domain name could have expired - though typically there's a window of time where the domain doesn't resolve before actually being deleted...so for an active website, it's unlikely for this to occur since one usually has time to renew it even if it's been removed from the
* Domain was never registered to the person to begin with
* Whois information and/or other details were incorrect and someone filed a complaint about it to ICANN. The window of time before deletion in such instances can be much shorter and I'm not sure the redemption period applies or not...anyone know? This is really a "catch-22"...for if one's Whois information is wrong, how can they be contacted to correct it.
* UDRP was filed...assuming the person's Whois information was correct (reiterates again why updated Whois info is so important!), they should have received some emails and I believe at least one notice by regular Post. They can quickly determine if their name was involved a UDRP action by search the UDRP section at ICANN's website. On an aside, if one loses a UDRP, they can then attempt to file suit in Federal court...some folks have successfully done that.
If the domain name was lost via UDRP or deleted, there's likely little to nothing they can realistically do to recover it.
However, if the domain name was "stolen", they need to first build a timeline...
1. What date did they register it?
2. Who did they register it through?
3. How long was it registered for...1 year, 2 years, more? (2 years is no longer the default - 1 year is very common now)
4. Did they change registrars and/or hosting in that time...if so, on what dates? -and for what reasons?
5. When did they discover the domain name was no longer under their control?
If someone simply gained control of the domain name account *at the registrar*, then it's simple matter of contacting the registrar and having change the information back to the correct account holder.
If someone transferred the domain name out to another registrar and then took control of the domain, then it gets a bit more complicated...they'll have to contact both their original registrar as well as the registrar that it was transferred to...some registrars go out of their way to assist other registrars with such problems, while others such as Network Solutions (recently sold by VeriSign, so maybe they'll get better) generally don't give a damn and stonewall.
If the domain name is listed as being owned by their webhosting company instead of them (sounds from the story this is NOT the case, but mention this possibility since it's a common problem), then they should contact their webhosting company and have the Registrant field updated so it's in their name and not that of their webhosting company - one often has to negotiate here and make it worth the webhosting companies time to do this...
Re:Stolen Domains Typically a Registrar Issue... (Score:2)
My comments above apply primarly to
Other gTLDs such as
If the domain name in question is in a ccTLD, such as
Ron Bennett
goatse.cx (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:goatse.cx (Score:1)
MOD PARENT UP To.... (Score:2)
Re:goatse.cx (Score:1)
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
If you're going to compete with the goatse.cx guy, you're going to need a lot more available bandwidth.
computer lawyer? (Score:4, Funny)
A "computer lawyer"? Does that look something like:
Hello! It looks like you're trying to stake a patent claim! Would you like me to:
Kidding aside, is that actual specialty of law now?
Re:computer lawyer? (Score:2)
It'll have it's own department shortly, just called 'Intellectual Property'. In all seriousness, though, If you followed the SCO thing in great detail you want to go take a look at Mark Haise's take on the GPL. It makes you weep and laugh at the same time.
Re:computer lawyer? (Score:2)
Sounds funny, but it's true. Many reputable lawyer firms have had departments named that exactly, for years.
Re:computer lawyer? (Score:1)
It can cover topics like :
I work for a company [practicallaw.com] who provide on-line legal know for lawyers practising in those areas - things like domain name dispute resolution are certainly covered by it.
A "cheap" idea. (Score:2, Informative)
File for theft. (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know if it would work, but it is worth a shot. I know my local police would atleast look into it.