Those pesky .xxx domain names are causing issues again. Last month, we reported that someone not directly linked to the Pope registered vatican.xxx, and The Vatican was eager to gain control of the domain.

This time around, someone has decided to register RichardBranson.xxx and potentially hold it for a Sir’s ransom. The .xxx domains just went on sale last December and it seems like squatters are buying them up in hopes of selling them back to their rightful owner. Virgin filed an official dispute with the National Arbitration Forum in hopes of seizing control of the domain.

While it’s clear that disputes over registered trademarks and copyrights are no-brainers, it will be interesting to see how a dispute over someone’s name, one that could be shared by many, will turn out in the eyes of the NAF.

It appears that it’s someone’s job over at Virgin to protect all of the companies IP online, as a spokesperson shared this comment with the BBC:

We spend a lot of time protecting the Virgin brand and the Richard Branson name and increasingly this takes us online. We do see this as a growing problem with the changes to top-level domains and we not alone.

We’ll keep an eye on how this one turns out, and we’re sure to hear more stories like this since ICANN has rolled out the application process for new domain extensions again.

What do you think about the .xxx squatter? Are unregistered domains fair game, or should they have to give Branson his sexy domain back? Tell us in the comments!

Yesterday was MoveYourDomainDay, and while we don’t know how effective of a boycott it was, we do know that Go Daddy has lost more customers than usual in the past week.

Even though Go Daddy has more domain name transfers coming in than it has going out, the company still wants to remind you that it opposes SOPA every chance they get.

Before you can move your domain, you must unlock it with Go Daddy. When you try to do so, you’re welcomed with a message and link:

The link goes to Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman’s statement from yesterday:

Go Daddy opposes SOPA because the legislation has not fulfilled its basic requirement to build a consensus among stake-holders in the technology and Internet communities. Our company regrets the loss of any of our customers, who remain our highest priority, and we hope to repair those relationships and win back their business over time.

While Go Daddy might be seeing a lot of domains being transferred to it, the ones leaving them can do unknown monetary damage, since it’s not known how many times those domains would have been renewed while managed by Go Daddy.

When one company steps in poo, another company sees an opportunity. Since Go Daddy hasn’t had the best week ever with PR, one domain registration company wants to capitalize on it.

Namecheap has been going after Go Daddy companies for the past few days with rabid ferociousness, publishing its own stance on SOPA, in which it says it is absolutely against the act and everything it stands for. Go Daddy on the other hand, supported the act, and then retracted its position.

Richard Kirkendall, Namecheap CEO, made this statement last week:

While we at Namecheap firmly believe in intellectual rights, SOPA is like detonating a nuclear bomb on the internet when only a surgical strike is necessary. This legislation has the potential to harm the way everyone uses the Internet and to undermine the system itself. At Namecheap, we believe having a free and open Internet is the only option that will continue the legacy of innovation and openess that stands for everything we all value in our modern society.

In its efforts to get as many Go Daddy customers to transfer to its service as possible, the company and its seems to have hit a snag and is crying foul. In a post today, the company claims that Go Daddy could be purposely blocking transfers away from its service, which as Namecheap points out, is against ICANN’s rules.

Here’s what Namecheap had to say on the matter:

We wanted to give our customers a quick update on the status of domain transfers associated with one of our competitors, GoDaddy.

First, we’re very sorry that some of you in the past 24 hours have experienced delays in transferring domains over to us.

As many customers have recently complained of transfer issues, we suspect that this competitor is thwarting efforts to transfer domains away from them.

Specifically, GoDaddy appears to be returning incomplete WHOIS information to Namecheap, delaying the transfer process. This practice is against ICANN rules.

We at Namecheap believe that this action speaks volumes about the impact that informed customers are having on GoDaddy’s business.

It’s a shame that GoDaddy feels they have to block their (former) customers from voting with their dollars. We can only guess that at GoDaddy, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Don’t worry – each and every transfer request will be processed manually by our team. Every request will go through. We won’t rest until everyone who wants to join the Namecheap family can do so!

That’s a pretty wild accusation if you ask me, but with Go Daddy customer service reps calling customers in hopes that they stay, I wouldn’t put it past them. However, this could easily be a PR stunt in and of itself. When a competitor makes a misstep like Go Daddy did, it would be stupid not to pile on to make a profit.

We’ve reached out to Go Daddy PR on the matter, but have yet to hear back. We’ll most certainly keep you updated.

UPDATE: Go Daddy PR has responded to us with the following statement:

Namecheap posted their accusations in a blog, but to the best our of knowledge, has yet to contact Go Daddy directly, which would be common practice for situations like this. Normally, the fellow registrar would make a request for us to remove the normal rate limiting block which is a standard practice used by Go Daddy, and many other registrars, to rate limit Whois queries to combat WhoIs abuse.

Because some registrars (and other data gathering, analyzing and reporting entities) have legitimate need for heavy port 43 access, we routinely grant requests for expanded access per an SOP we’ve had in place for many years. Should we make contact with Namecheap, and learn they need similar access, we would treat that request similarly.

As a side note, we have seen some nefarious activity this weekend which came from non-registrar sources. But, that is not unusual for a holiday weekend, nor would it cause legitimate requests to be rejected. Nevertheless, we have now proactively removed the rate limit for Namecheap, as a courtesy, but it is important to point out, there still may be back-end IP addresses affiliated with Namecheap of which we are unaware. For complete resolution, we should be talking to each other — an effort we are initiating since they have not done so themselves.”

-Rich Merdinger
Sr. Director of Product Development – Domains
Go Daddy

It’s going to get worse before it gets better for domain registration company Go Daddy. Yesterday, we reported that Go Daddy had reversed its decision to support SOPA. Its customer service reps are even taking to the phones to beg you to keep your domains with the company.

It looks like these PR moves to save face, and business, are completely futile. According to TheDomains, 21,054 domains were transferred away from Go Daddy on Friday alone. At $6.99 a pop, that would make for a loss of $147,167, not taking future renewals into account. The day before wasn’t a good one for the company either, with 15,000 people taking their domains elsewhere. That means that even though Go Daddy changed its stance, people have had enough.

The stats from DailyChanges show that the transfers away from Go Daddy have been increasing all week. Here are the number of domains moving away from Go Daddy this week alone:

Monday (8,800)
Tuesday (13,000)
Wednesday (14,500)
Thursday (15,000)
Friday (21,054)

Just a suggestion, perhaps Go Daddy should write about SOPA and leave the comments open, that way customers can reply. I’m starting to run out of /facepalm photos, so it better do something to repair its relationship with customers.

Oh, and by the way Go Daddy…we know that you’re exempt from SOPA, and that you haven’t even officially changed your stance with Congress.

If you’re not sure what the Stop Online Piracy Act is, read SOPA For Dummies

According to a report by Ars Technica, Verisign submitted a request yesterday asking for the power to scan sites for malware and to shut them down when it sees fit. It would also like the ability to shut down a domain name at the request of law enforcement.

Verisign of course operates a huge part of the internet networking infrastructure including top-level domain names like: .com, .net, and .name.

Verisign says:

All parts of the internet community are feeling the pressure to be more proactive in dealing with malicious activity

ICANN has recognized this and the new gTLD Applicant Guidebook requires new gTLDs to adopt a clear definition of rapid takedown or suspension systems that will be implemented.

The full request submitted through ICANN’s Registry Services Evaluation Process on October 10th can be viewed below.

It’s not just malware Verisign is worried about. Apparently the company has been piloting a program with cyber security experts to seize domain names that are harboring malicious content or have broken the law in some way. These takedown procedures would include a “protest” capability for those who feel that their domain name was taken in error.

Do you feel like this is a new government way of controlling the internet with Verisign at the lead? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Verisign Com Net Name Request 10oct11 En