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The Curious Correlation Between .biz Domains, Bad Whois Data, and Spam
12/3/2003
But what about .biz? I don't know about you, but I've been seeing an *awful* lot of spam that uses .biz domain names lately, and I think I've begun to understand why that's happening.
Specifically, even though .biz is an top-level domain that's registered via ICANN-accredited registrars (just like .com and .net domains), and .biz domain registrations are theoretically subject to the same whois data accuracy requirements as .com and .net, some things are "done a little differently" in the .biz domain name space.
For example, you can't submit reports about inaccurate .biz whois data via
http://reports.internic.net/cgi/rpt_whois/rpt.cgi
- that form simply won't accept complaints about .biz domain names.
If you contact neulevel.biz, the registry operator for .biz, about inaccurate .biz whois data, neulevel.biz shrugs its electronic shoulders, sending you "bug off" boilerplate like the following verbatim text I received from NeuLevel when I tried complaining about a spamvertised .biz domain with bad whois data:
Please note that NeuLevel is a third party provider of registry services to over 100 ICANN-accredited .BIZ registrars. As a registry, we only provide a database in which registrars store their customers' domain name records. Only the respective registrars can delete or block a domain from resolving, if the registrar determines that the domain's registration violates one or more clauses in the terms of use. Therefore, the most appropriate party with whom you should file your complaint is the sponsoring registrar, whose name appears in Line 3 of the domain name's WHOIS record found at
http://www.whois.biz You can get the registrar's contact information by submitting a WHOIS query for "Registrar" instead of domain name.You can also report domains with inaccurate WHOIS information directly to ICANN by completing the ICANN report form:
http://reports.internic.net/cgi/rpt_whois/rpt.cgi.
If you're having a boring day, and want an interesting little research project
as an alternative to working through the New York Times crossword puzzle, check
the list of .biz registrars
[http://www.neulevel.biz/partners/registrars.html].
Now try building a page with links to each .biz registrar's bad whois reporting
mechanism. Daunting task, isn't it? Do you find some .biz registrars who apparently
lack any readily identifiable mechanism for reporting bad whois data?
Yep, I sort of thought you might.
Given all that, it is little wonder that sightings of .biz domains in spam have become extremely common.
De facto tolerance of the use of .biz domains in spam, and failure to take steps to police inaccurate .biz whois data will eventually lead to:
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