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.... have any of you found that a name(s) you researched just yesterday or even a few hours ago are suddenly not available?
Is there a way that a 3rd party can "see" recent search activity?
I had a big long list of names that I searched on a few days ago, and they weren't all for the same type of niche, and I went back today and EVERY ONE of them is no longer available. I can see a couple of them being gone, but ALL of them, including hyphenated combinations?
not that this is what it is but I have read about people loading key loggers for this very reason
key logger seems a bit extreme for this scenario -- I'm thinking more like a temp cache or some kind of database that's accessible on recent search entries from various domain name sites.
Ah, I did some searching and found it's called "domain sniffing" ... put that in the search box and bam, a whole lot of articles and boards are talking about it.
This article appeared on DomainNews in March.
http://www.domainnews.com/general/12...fing/#more-380
Quote:
Does “domain sniffing”, in which a third party registers domains you’ve searched for, really happen?
I’ve always been skeptical that domain sniffing happens on a wide scale. Here’s what domain sniffing is about: you query a whois site or domain registrar for a domain to check its availability. You wait a few days and then go back to register the domain. To your surprise, it has been registered by someone else. Domain sniffing means that someone was able to view (”sniff”) your domain queries and use this information to register the domains.
But does domain sniffing really happen? Few people point to evidence other than anecdotal incidents (”I checked for a domain, and three days later it was gone!”). My advice to people searching for a domain is to go ahead and register it when you find a good one. At $8, why risk it? Plus, it could just be coincidence that someone registered a domain you searched for.
Or maybe not. I looked up a domain about a week ago and didn’t get around to registering it right away. I went back a few days later to register it and it was taken. “OK”, I thought, “it’s reasonable that someone else might want this domain, even though it’s obscure”. However, there are a couple peculiar things about the registration. First, the registrant is protected by whois privacy. Why would this person want to protect their identity on a non-sensitive domain? Yes, it cuts down on spam, but this still raises a red flag. Second, the domain is parked at a major registrar. If someone snapped up the domain for parking revenue why would they keep it at this registrar and let the registrar profit? Again, it could be coincidence…or is it?
At this point I recalled an article by Larry Seltzer of eWeek. He researched a situation at CNET last year and detailed his findings. Someone complained to him that her search for a domain at CNET resulted in a registration by a third party. CNET’s search box aggregated domain queries to a number of providers, which opened the door for a number of potential sniffers. Seltzer searched for three random domains at CNET and they were all registered 30 hours later — by the same party.
There are other ways a domain could be sniffed. Here’s one theory from a thread at Webmaster World:
Place an advertisement at one one the popular domain check sites. Whenever a domain is checked, it shows up in the URL field of that particular user’s browser, and correspondingly shows up on the advertisers log as the URL from which the image (advertisement) was served. An simple automated script pulls the domains out of the log, checks for known words, number of characters, etc, and automatically registers those that fit the criteria. If they don’t get any traffic to the autmatically generated landing page, the domain drops after 5 days, and doesn’t cost the register anything. If they do, they pay the 6 bucks and keep the name.
Was the domain I searched for sniffed? If so, was it by the registrar or just some rogue employee? I’ve thought of a way to find out who is hiding behind the whois privacy, although it will cost some money and time. I’m going to run test queries to look for patterns before proceding.
Its very funny you should say this Bec, there have been several times where I have searched with large companies....found names that were very unusual but highly sort after....thought about it overnight and the entire 'block' that I was looking at had gone the following day.... registered within 6hrs of me looking at them ...
These days if I'm even the slightest bit 'turned on' by a name I register it there and then .... then worry about what to do with it afterwards..... thus my post about britneysexclusive.com earlier this morning...
I personally think a cache of what was 'searched but not registered' ends up on some guys desk at these companies to go thru and register ones that may be worh something to them....
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I found one part of that article to be of particular interest, because when I found all the names gone, I did indeed do a whois search, and sure enough, they're all privately registered and en mass to a california address. Now why would they pay to shield the whois on so so names if they weren't pulling something somewhat shady?
I've had the same exp before, even while I was searching not ten mins I went back to register a name bam it was registered....
Well as they have all been bought by one oereson then it seems odd, but I 99 percent of the time use a anon who is to reg domains anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bec
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teaser
Not sure I'm following the "use a anon whois to reg domains" -- can you explain that more?
sure Bec:)
I use the whois anon offer when registering domains. I like having that as a backup so if someone doesn't like what I'm showing or whatever they can't send me crap or whatever, its all registered with say namecheap.com or whatever and the emails and phone calls go to them first.
OOOOOOOhhhhh ok -- duh, brain fart there. now I get what you're doing. And welcome back again - you're turning into a real teaser with posting a few weeks ago, vanishing and then popping back again! Stick around more!
**eg** I keep you on your toes that way Bec~! You know you love me for it;)
and its not your fault, I'm just not writing well tonite;) :sunny:
Check those domains again in a few days. They'll probably be available again. Someone is just kiting them. Meaning, they bought the domains for a few days to check for typein traffic. If it's not worth keeping them, they'll get a refund from the registrar.
Whatever you do, don't visit those domains while they are being kited or you are just creating hits and a reason for them to keep the domain for an entire year.
Could I ask where you searched for the domains at? I've never heard of an entire list being stolen like this. I don't know if they still do it, but whois.sc used to sell their search results to domainers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt 26z
Well shoot - I can't - I was so pissed I threw out the list and the garbage pickup has come and gone. As to the name of the site I used to search on, I'd rather not publicly say - I'm not in a position to get my ass sued for some kind of slander against them.
It's not slander if it's a matter of fact. You searched at ____, and then everything you searched for was suddenly registered.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bec
fwiw, we've used Enom for quite a while, probably 5 years or more. I know that some people have had issues with them, but they don't do sleazy shit like Godaddy does with secret fees you don't find out about till later, or suspending domains for a single spam complaint, that sort of thing. I've always been happy with them, and pleased that we can reach a real person in the rare cases where we need something done quickly. They also provide a ton of tools (free DNS, email forwarding, etc) that many other registrars charge for, and (if you have at least 50 domains registered with them) they are very competitive pricewise.
I've had names that I've checked in Enom and kept in the shopping cart for weeks or longer that were still available for registration. I have definitely heard that some of the shadier registrars also run domain resale and squatting operations on the side, so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest for the search data to be provided by one of these companies to their sister "squatter" company.
Hmm, that comment about running domain resales on the side put up a flag. I think I may indeed be looking around at a different registrar.