Go Daddy stealing domains?

just came across this on Digg http://www.threadwatch.org/node/12636 I don't use Godaddy but I know alot of people on here do so it might be worth a read

that sounds really bad, sure they are really cheap a little more than 5 euro (no. VAT) for a .com (the cheapest price with my local provider is 8 euro excl. VAT.

I think you should think about which domain names have value and register them with a very trustful partner...I must say that article let me think...

guess if its to good to be true its normally not true :)

just called my local domain name provider, he said that he never heard about that kind of stories. The point is that you will never know the whole truth...

I have heard stories about GD and domains being snatched during the research/order process, but this technique is new to me.

So if GD is bad and it isn't a good idea to use your webhost, who do you recommend?

No matter what happened, godaddy gave the domain back to this guy. And believe me there is no way for them to take your domain.

If godaddy haven't give it back, then they would face the law (as they don't have any right to do what they did) and have many angry clients moving their domains to other registrars(As they probably have already)

I must say I would never register important domain names their...I started the godaddy account since I get new domain names with website sales, yeah and actually because of the low price of .com names :(

As a web host GD is one of the worst. I know because a friend of mine had a site there, and they were really slow.

If you were meaning who do you recommend for domains, I would say enom as they are the biggest registrar right now

Problem is most domain registrars don't buy the domains in your name, but rather theirs and then edit the Whois details, but even then until the right bodies (Nominent in the UK for instance) are notified they own the domain. Most people don't realise but very few people own their domain names, If you do you will have a certificate of authority (they get sent about 9/12 weeks after its registered) the certificate is effectively the deed so who ever name is on the certificate is the owner. I wonder who name will be on the certificate?

I always recommend 123reg.co.uk not the cheapest, not the fastest but always reliable, you have full control over the name server directly, and can add txt records.

how about the costs I thought they are very high...

That's right. There are also a few companies who steal domains this way from their clients.

I guess this is a serious reason to buy domains only from reliable companies.

is this "certificate of authority" not a typical UK thing (or other national domain names, I got a certificate from Austria)? never saw this for .com names...

They are for every type of Domain, I just checked our filing cabinet to make sure we had filed them correctly, We have a couple of UK domains, a .net and a .org sitting here, I'm waiting on a .com to come for a recent domain purchase, When I spoke with the registrars on Monday they were popping it in the post

There's some sort of certificate you're supposed to get with domains?

Uh, oh, I'm in trouble. Who/what do I do to look into this?

They vary depending on who runs the domain network Nominet in the UK have nice certificates, others such as the American ones have electronic ones and just give you a very long code. If its a .com http://www.icann.org/faq/ is the FAQ check to see if your registrar is on the list, if its not then check the whois data if only your data is there its ok :)

My host registered my sites and they use Tucows. The host isn't on that list. So does that mean the official paperwork is being held by my webhost?

The whois lists me as the Registrant, but my webhost for the Admin and Technical Contacts. The only emails are for the host I registered the names with.

I'd planned on moving my registrations - sounds like I might need to do more than just that.

When you move registrars, your domain will be transferred, if the transfer goes through then you own the domain :)

I wouldn't worry to much, if you are in doubt send an email to your registrars to ask them.

so if I get it right my domain should be registered like here:
http://whois.domaintools.com/finalwebsites.com

yep olaf almost certainly you own the domain :)

WoW this was a good read. I am glad that I found this I have a few domain's with godaddy. I guess its time to move.