GoDaddy’s Domain Registration Totally Screws .me
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/17...lly-screws-me/
Earlier this year GoDaddy won the rights to distribute domains under the extension .me, which belongs to the country of Montenegro. After a number of private distribution periods for corporations, the highly desirable extension finally went on sale this morning for $20 dollars a year (with a minimum 2 year purchase - nice). And now, things are rapidly descending into chaos.
Many users have reported getting confirmations (and credit card charges) for their domains, only to receive the following cancellation notice about an hour later:
Dear Jason Kincaid,
The following domain name has failed to be registered:
WATCH.ME
Error: WATCH.ME: cannot register - already registered
We will evaluate this error and retry the registration
if appropriate.
If we are unable to successfully register the domain
name, your account will be credited accordingly. Please
allow one business day for the refund to be processed.
Understandably, a lot of people are outraged. And, disappointment and shattered dreams aside, there’s the issue of who actually will wind up owning each domain. A Twitter search for “hug.me” shows that at least a half dozen people hold confirmation letters (myself included).
GoDaddy says that the problems are a result of a “SuperBowl -like response to the open registration” that exceeded everyone’s expectations and wound up crushing their servers. Apparently they didn’t realize that after months of pent up demand and publicity for an extremely desirable domain, they’d be seeing an onslaught of prospective buyers.
The company says that disgruntled users can expect a refund in the next 24-48 hours, and that the servers should be stable now. No word on when we’ll know if we actually own our newly-purchased domains.
Dot Pro Release Date Pushed Back
Due to unanticipated levels of interest inthe presale of Dot Pro domain names, Registry Pro has moved their 'go live' date from July 14 to September 8.
After meeting with a number of registrars last week at the ICANN conference in Paris, and talking to current and prospective registrars about implementation of the modified restrictions passed by the ICANN Board on April 29, it is apparent that the time frame first set is not sufficient to accommodate the interest!
The .Pro top level domain, previously restricted to registrants in the accounting, engineering, legal and medical fields, will be available to all licensed and credentialed professionals and professional entities internationally on Monday, Sept 8, 2008.
In the meantime, us techie types can get our Dot Me domains on July 17th
For more information on the dot pro requirements:
Lawmakers Question Embarq over NebuAd Use
"Surreptitiously tracking individual users' Internet activity cuts to the heart of consumer privacy. The information collected through NebuAd's technology can be highly personal and sensitive information. Embarq's apparent use of this technology without directly notifying affected customers that their activity was being tracked, collected, and analyzed raises serious privacy red flags," said Rep. Markey.
The text of the letter is below.
July 14, 2008
Mr. Tom Gerke
Chief Executive Officer
Embarq
5454 W. 110th Street
Overland Park, KS 66211
Dear Mr. Gerke:
We are writing with respect to a recent test conducted by Embarq to tailor Internet advertising to the web-browsing patterns of individual Embarq subscribers. We are interested in the nature of this test as well as the impact that this test, and the underlying technology it employed, could have on consumer privacy and other issues.
We understand that Embarq conducted a test earlier this year in a select community in conjunction with NebuAd to create consumer profiles for the purpose of serving ads to consumers based upon their search and surfing habits. As you may know, questions have been raised regarding the applicability of privacy protections contained in the Communications Act of 1934, the Cable Act of 1984, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and other statutes, to such practices.
In particular, we are concerned that Embarq may not have directly notified the subscribers involved in the test that their Web use was being analyzed and profiled. We therefore request that you answer the following questions in order for us to better understand the nature of the test conducted, its impact on consumers, and the broader public policy implications of this technology.
1. In what community was the test conducted and how was that community chosen?
2. How many subscribers were involved in the test?
3. How did Embarq notify subscribers in the affected community of the test? Please provide a copy of the notification. If Embarq did not specifically or directly notify affected subscribers, please explain why this was not done.
4. Did Embarq conduct a legal analysis regarding the applicability of consumer privacy laws on the service used in the test? If so, please explain what that analysis concluded.
5. Please explain why Embarq chose to conduct the test allowing consumers who objected to "opt out" rather than first asking customers to "opt in."
6. How did Embarq notify subscribers in the affected community of their opportunity to "opt-out" of the test? If Embarq did not specifically or directly notify effected subscribers of the opportunity to "opt-out," please explain why this was not done.
7. How many subscribers in the affected community opted out of participating in the test?
8. Did Embarq conduct a legal analysis regarding the adequacy of the "opt-out" notice and mechanism employed to allow consumers to effectuate this choice? If so, please explain what that analysis concluded.
9. What is the status of the consumer data collected during this test? Has it been destroyed?
Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. We respectfully request a response by Monday, July 21, 2008.
Sincerely,
s/John D. Dingell s/Joe Barton
Chairman Ranking Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce Committee on Energy and Commerce
s/Edward J. Markey
Chairman
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
cc: The Honorable Cliff Stearns, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
WordPress 2.6 is now available
Version 2.6 of WordPress.org is now available, almost a month ahead schedule. Version 2.6 “Tyner,” named for jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, contains a number of new features that make WordPress a more powerful CMS: you can now track changes to every post and page and easily post from wherever you are on the web, plus there are dozens of incremental improvements to the features introduced in version 2.5.
For a look at the new WordPress 2.6 features in action, check out this video:
http://wordpress.org/development/2008/07/wordpress-26-tyner/
Frisco Officials Locked Out of Computer Network
Excerted from the San Francisco Chronicle
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
A disgruntled city computer engineer has virtually commandeered San Francisco's new multimillion-dollar computer network, altering it to deny access to top administrators even as he sits in jail on $5 million bail, authorities said Monday.
Terry Childs, a 43-year-old computer network administrator who lives in Pittsburg, has been charged with four counts of computer tampering and is scheduled to be arraigned today.
Prosecutors say Childs, who works in the Department of Technology at a base salary of just over $126,000, tampered with the city's new FiberWAN (Wide Area Network), where records such as officials' e-mails, city payroll files, confidential law enforcement documents and jail inmates' bookings are stored.
Childs created a password that granted him exclusive access to the system, authorities said. He initially gave pass codes to police, but they didn't work. When pressed, Childs refused to divulge the real code even when threatened with arrest, they said.
He was taken into custody Sunday. City officials said late Monday that they had made some headway into cracking his pass codes and regaining access to the system.
Childs has worked for the city for about five years. One official with knowledge of the case said he had been disciplined on the job in recent months for poor performance and that his supervisors had tried to fire him.
"They weren't able to do it - this was kind of his insurance policy," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the attempted firing was a personnel matter.
Authorities say Childs began tampering with the computer system June 20. The damage is still being assessed, but authorities say undoing his denial of access to other system administrators could cost millions of dollars.
Childs, according to payroll records, earned $126,735 in base pay in 2007 and additional premium pay of $22,534, for a total of $149,269.