It been just about a month since the The Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008″ was introduced in Congress.
We immediately informed you about the bill, told you that if passed it, the government would be able to take away your property, the most generic of domain names and fine you up to 6 million dollars per domain.
We immediately let you know that if the bill passed it would greatly depress all domain values. It would virtual end the domain industry as we know it.
We also let you know that there was a lobbying group funded by Verizon, Dell and other major corporations to get this legislation, and others coming in the future, which will directly attack our industry.
Finally we let you know that our industry has a lobbyist and a group established to fight this bill and other legislation that many come and that group needed funding and members.
The word went out on all the domain boards, blogs and newsletters.
So here is the response from the domain community in the month.
15 new members into the ICA
$10,000 dollars in contributions to the ICA.
That’s it.
That’s all.
Horrible, pathetic, disgusting, failure.
To add insult to injury I have been running a poll on thedomains.com for 10 days asking if you are a member of the ICA. Keeping in mind this is a blog written by a Domainer for domainers, the results are astounding; 5 votes yes (including 1 of mine) 15 votes no, not a member.
You come to my board, read everything I have been telling you about the bill and then have the nerve to not join the ICA and let me know you haven’t.
Shameful.
So here is my final attempt.
We will match your contribution, dollar for dollar up to $10,000.
This offer is only opened to NEW MEMBERS.
The ICA need money but it also needs numbers in the membership ranks.
So become an associate member of the ICA for $295, and we will throw in another $295 of our own money.
Become a Professional Member at $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000 and we will match you dollar for dollar, again up to a total of $10K.
First come first served.
To take advantage of this offer go to https://www.internetcommerce.org/contact_us
Mention in the comment box that you are joining on thedomains.com/mostwanteddomains.com match program.
The ICA is on board with this program. They will let me know once the $10K in contributions is met. I will then let you know.
This offer expires next Friday March 27 at 5PM PST.
If you’re already a member of the ICA I again urge you to contribute more, do a matching program of your own.
Do something.
It’s $295 to join the ICA, the cost of 40 domain registrations or 4 backorders at namejet.com.
No excuses accepted.
Finally there are certain people who advertised domains for sale on domain boards stating that a percentage of the sale would be donated to the ICA.
These domains sold, but the ICA has not received the funds.
By next week, I think we will have a post dedicated to these people, if they do not follow through on their pledges.
Mike,
Thank you for posting this and for matching funds for the ICA. I still don’t know why people haven’t joined. I don’t know anyone else who is standing up for interests of domain owners.
Best,
Elliot
IMO, the main reason there are so few participants and insignificant donations is because they know deep-down that without the heavy hitters, parking firms, registrars and others contributing and being vocal the lobbying against it in all likelihood will be futile.
Their contributions would be much more significant (really no comparison) vs the small donations coming from a relative few domainers.
Great post Mike and trader has a point…we need to pressure ALL the companies that make money off our domains to join and SAY they joined in public…
Trader
Some of the parking companies have given to ICA, oversea and Trafficz to name 2.
A group that represents an industry needs 2 things.
Money AND Members.
When a lobbyist goes into a senators office saying they represent group X, they would love to say the group represents 1,000 members rather than the group represents 50 members.
Once again at the price point we are talking $295, equivalent to 4 backorders at snapnames.com or namejet.com just do it, join, let me match your funds.
At least you will have done something
Get on it guys and gals!
I am a very small domainer and would like to see that the deep pockets contribute first and publicize their contribution. I seriously appreciate your 10K matching offer, though this is very small to what you might loose. I am yet to see a big domainer contribute a 100K+ and publish in his blog, or arrange a fund raising event just for this purpose and each contribute just a few of their valuable assets. Serious, why not the king domainers arrange an event for this purpose only and contribute all the earnings to ICA. Everybody talks, but where is the action? If there is only 10K contributed so far, considering my share in the domain industry, this would be equivalent to few pennies for me. After all, if the bill passes, it will not be a significant loss for me anyways. Whoever is scared most, will be affected most, should care and contribute first and most to motivate the small guys. I am very much surprised that many domainers making a living on domaining don’t seem to care other than just blogging about it. Just my two cents.
John
We contributed 25K last year to the ICA, before this bill came up.
Many other “big” domain companies, have given the ICA more, Frank, oversea.net, trafficz, to name a few.
The 10K raised is only since the Snowe bill was proposed.
Here’s a thought what if a law was proposed to take your children away. Under the same logic, you would let the people with big families fight the bill, “let those with 8 kids fight the bill, i only have one child to lose”.
I like some of Johns idea…example: at the next t.r.a.f.f.i.c. instead of peeps buying clubs for the whole night ( I can only imagine the cost) a parking company or similar should put on a fund raising event …it may raise hundreds of thousands in one swoop.
I have no problem with that.
I am not aprofessional in this field but see the work you guys are doing to safe guard the future for all including part timers with dreams like myself. I have just registered as an associate member and donated a fruther $750.
ICA payment reference is – ICA order #93 for graham haynes.
“Here’s a thought what if a law was proposed to take your children away. Under the same logic, you would let the people with big families fight the bill, “let those with 8 kids fight the bill, i only have one child to lose”.”
This analogy is not relevant. Each and every child is invaluable. One cannot sacrifice any child, but I could give my entire portfolio even if I had one like Frank to save one of my children. Business is different than children and family (ref: best talk of last TRAFFIC show).
Family aside, I am not talking about a fundraising within a conference. I am talking about a conference dedicated to ICA, not to sell a hat or some stupid domain name, a serious set of domain names with real value donated by the big guys. Given the amount of money at stake amounts in the order of tens of thousands are at best funny. Considering one good domain name can be easily six digits, people should contribute seriously.
I think the majority of domainers are either part-time domainers or do not think they have a strong enough domain portfolio to be worried about and to join at the 325.00 price point.
Is there any chance that the price point for an associate membership may be adjusted to fit domainers who would like to join but have a smaller budget to work with?
I myself would immediately join the ICA if the fee for an associate were 125-200 dollars.
Just a thought
JM
JM…you can donate as little as $1 to them…there is a link on their site…you just dont get a tittle.
graham
Thank you
I can donate 10 ,20 or even 50 but I’d rather be an associate member.
Wouldn’t it be better if the ICA had more members?
JM
It would better for them to have more members, but there has to be a fixed amount, which is $295.
Once again this is only 40 domain registrations or 4 namejet or snapnames.com backorders.
There are hundreds of reasons for not doing something.
There are only a few for doing the right thing
Great post there.
I will move my domain names from the US registers to another country so this is how I will solve this issue.
Damir
Don’t know if that will help
Please read this previous post:
http://www.thedomains.com/2008/03/04/enom-takes-away-cuba-domain-names-what-it-means-to-you-in-light-of-the-snowe-bill/
The US courts have ruled that since the central registrar for all domains is network solutions and since the servers are located in Virgina, then US courts have jurisdiction over the domain.
Yes if your a non-US resident with no assets here, they would have a hard time collecting the fine from you but they would seem to have the ability to take your domain away even if it was registered with a non-US registrar.
Even though we are based in Europe, we just contacted ICA to have them arrange an associate membership for us. Further donations will also be pledged to them once we become a member.
Mike, I mentioned your site as referal when I contacted them, so hope they caught that.
Kim
Yes they will.
Thanks for having the foresight in invest in protecting your own business
My pleasure.
Michael C. just contacted me and just paid for everything, so we should be all set. Keep up the good work Mike to promote this cause!
thanks
I suggest a monthly contribution level membership. EFF does it so I’m a member there b/c I can afford it. $300 is a car payment to me.
I’d like to join but honestly the ICA doesn’t really seem to want small domainers. I have donated a small amount but I don’t get anything for it (besides peace of mind, I know).
There needs to be a lower barrier to entry. You say it’s only 40 domain regs, I say holy crap IT’S 40 REGS! That’s approaching 25% of my portfolio.
Another thing that annoys me is a slight tinge of disingenuousness to the argument that the ICA is the ONLY org looking out for domainers. The EFF is against the Snowe bill too and fight against a lot of other things not limited to domaining. They are concerned with privacy, copyright & TM abuses on all things digital.
I’d like to give to both but the EFF seems to understand the little guy a bit better IMHO.
THE scare tactics you people try to use are ridiculous. First off I am against the SNOWE BILL, but to act like every domain owner will lose every domain is insane, more than insane its a lie.
Secondly the big guys should be giving 100’s of thousands. Schilling by DN JOURNAL # MAKES $20,000,000 A YEAR. He should be donating a million easy, Lawrence NG and OVersee $2,000,000, Kevin Ham, Rick Schwartz $500,000 to MIllion. SEDO, PARKED, FABULOUS $1,000,000 easy. SO lets calm this down a little. The small domainer that owns qwxz.com or 2378.com is not losing his domain so stop the scare tactics. The bill is bad and so is the propaganda. AND DID SOME ASSHOLE COMPARE THIS TO A CHILD ? Get a clue, WTF. THE ICA should have no problems raising $10,ooo,ooo from just Schilling,Schwartz,HAM, SEDO, Fabulous,Godaddy,Parked, OVERSEE, Adam Dicker,Sahar SARID, FEARLESS on DNF, Chris Chena,ENOM,Demand MEdia, Namemedia, Michael Mann made a lot on domains he likes to help charities, Howard Neu,DomainTools.com, Collectively the names I just mentioned stand to lose more than all small domainers combined by a factor of 10. If every domainer losing every domain. Which is totally nuts IMO
Hugh
Not every domain will be taken. No one has said that. Not today not any day.
But many domains will be taken. The most valuable ones.
Maybe not your domains.
But the value of all domains are going to drop dramatically once the first names are taken, including your’s.
It Doesn’t take a genius to realize that once domains are taken without trademarks, the amount a buyer would be willing to pay for any domainwould drop dramatically.
Regarding your comments and allocations for who should give how much, I know, your opinion
Everyone but you, should give a lot.
Yes you shouldn’t give anything.
Actually I am quite offended that you did not tell me how much I should give.
Regarding your statement “DID SOME ASSHOLE COMPARE THIS TO A CHILD” The answer is no.
The ASSHOLE, pointed out how the government abuses the power they are given, as they traditionally have, and that the power they will be granted in the Snowe bill, will be used to go after domains you would not think they would. I’m just an asshole who happens to be an attorney and have seen the government do some very nasty things to some very good people, who deserved better. But they weren’t you do don’t worry about them.
I suggest you read something, and then re-read it 2,3 or 4 times if until you understand the words and their meaning, which you clearly do not.
Your mind set and argument here is exactly the reason Rick quit blogging yesterday and stopped posting on his board.
BTW ever hear this one
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.
This is you.
NO not quite, and for you again to compare this to anything as serious as children, you sound like a complete fear monger.
Secondly I did not say everyone should not do something. What I said was I want to know as all domainers do, what are the top companies spending and doing to stop this.
Schilling
Schwartz
You
Sahar
Ham
Fearless
Adam Dicker
SEDO
Parked
Fabulous
Name Media
Demand Media
ENOM
OVERSEE
GOOGLE who stands to lose 100’s of millions
Verisign
What are these companies and individuals doing ?
Because again they stand to lose more than all small domainers combined if YOU INCLUDE GOOGLE AND VERISIGN by a factore of 1000.
Whether Rick Schwartz stops blogging or not is his choice. To put that blame on others is laughable, Rick is not people’s God.
Again I still want you to show me where I said to do nothing about this. I made a point you skipped (obviously) For a small domainer making $1200 a year in PARKING you want them to donate $300 or 25 % fine. Are the people I mentioned donating 25 % of what they make ? Because that would mean Schilling alone is writing a check for $5,000,000.
But you keep the fear mongering going, and lastly if Domains are all going to be taken, and Rick saw this before anyone, WHY did Traffic have a domain auction in Vegas, did Rick not tell them look you are going to lose these domains, or the value is going down so you are buying a declining asset.
Your last line is just as laughable as the CHILD line which I see someone else also commented was way off. The quote you are referencing was about the Holocaust, how ignorance could filter down like that. Maybe you should wake up and realize for those not making the big $$$ in domains many would never compare to a child or anything else of real importance. Because maybe someone should be donating $300 to feed starving children or keep people in their homes instead of keeping fuel in Schillings Jet.
“What I said was I want to know as all domainers do, what are the top companies spending and doing to stop this.””
A lot more than you.
“Whether Rick Schwartz stops blogging or not is his choice. To put that blame on others is laughable”
Except that I talked to Rick about this and his frustration with dealing with small minded people, with nothing to contribute but excuses and pointing at other people is exactly why he stopped.
Why should Rick waste his time giving people his insight, the benefits of his knowledge and success to those who have such a small mind, they reject everything and insist that they are smarter than the ones who have the big houses, jets and millions in the bank yet, can’t afford $300.
Many (if not most) small time domainers probably don’t have the money for any “extras” in life.
Many, like myself, probably had to use credit cards or borrowed money to start hand regging.
Many of us hoped that by now we would have had a substantial sale. Many of us have not.
Perhaps they fell further behind on the credit card payments and resorted to taking out a home equity loan in order to stay in the domain game.
…Still holding on in hopes of that big sale.
Meanwhile, life goes on. And many domainers who can barely barely pay their normal bills are reluctantly letting some of their domains expire because they cannot afford to keep them all.
I suspect their are many domainers in that boat.
Politicians, lobbyists and predators know that those kind of “small fish” have no means of defense because they simply do not have the money.
N/A
Your started just like I started, using credit cards to register domains.
Frank started the same way.
Many of us did.
You should read Franks blog today it’s excellent:
http://www.sevenmile.com/2008-03/everybody-sells
Maybe it will give you some guidance.
admin // Mar 22, 2008 at 12:24 pm
“What I said was I want to know as all domainers do, what are the top companies spending and doing to stop this.””
A lot more than you.
HAHA As they should what part are you not getting , again no transparency, just like when John Taylor said I am a very small domainer and would like to see that the deep pockets contribute first and publicize their contribution. I seriously appreciate your 10K matching offer, though this is very small to what you might loose. I am yet to see a big domainer contribute a 100K+ and publish in his blog, or arrange a fund raising event just for this purpose and each contribute just a few of their valuable assets. Serious, why not the king domainers arrange an event for this purpose only and contribute all the earnings to ICA. Everybody talks, but where is the action? If there is only 10K contributed so far, considering my share in the domain industry, this would be equivalent to few pennies for me. After all, if the bill passes, it will not be a significant loss for me anyways. Whoever is scared most, will be affected most, should care and contribute first and most to motivate the small guys. I am very much surprised that many domainers making a living on domaining don’t seem to care other than just blogging about it. Just my two cents.
You brought up Children.
LETS TALK TRANSPARENCY. WHAT HAVE THEY PUT UP ? UNTIL THAT IS PUT OUT, WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY MEANS NOTHING TO ME AND MANY OTHERS.
More than you…. I hope so they make 100’s of millions. The fact that these people have not put up at least $5,000,000 is a joke.
Its interesting when people ask what the big guys are doing, there is no transparent answer just a smart alec answer, or what if it was your Child being taken. Absolutely disgusting and laughable.
Frank Schilling not worried about SNOWE BILL
His WORDS not mine
***FS*** That is so ironic.. I actually hadn’t seen Rick’s post or that he’d stopped blogging. He has probably found as I have that blogging is a great responsibility to readers.. and a great deal of work. I plan to continue to post albeit less frequently on the day to day points. I am not worried about the Snowe bill, as it is unlikely to pass without ammendment.. Too many folks are opposed to this proposal which was hastily written. The senator’s staff did not think through all the ramifications and potentials for misuse. You don’t control an industry by chasing it out of the USA ..
Hugh, I mostly agree with your points. It’s sad to say it seems the big time domainers are as out of touch with the little guys as Washington is with the American people.
I respect Rick Schwartz for his history but the loss of his blog posts are hardly a blow to the industry. I can boil almost all of them down to “See! See! I TOLD you so!” He hasn’t said anything new in a long time.
There is a tone to all time alarmism that just smacks of hypocrisy and I think you are completely justified to point out the lack of support not just from the little guys but from the big guys.
Where is the leadership on this issue? I humbly submit that chastising the people you seek to convince to act is a foolhardy approach to achieving your end. I point to the very title of this blog post in support of my assertion. Give. Me. A. Break.
I want to debate this civilly. I applaud the admin for being concerned and trying to do something about it. I am sorely disappointed with the tactics however.
I pledge that I will become a member of the ICA as soon as I can do it without skipping a bill payment. I support and believe in the ICA’s stated goals but I’m unclear on what they have actually done and/or intend to do.
I know what the EFF has done. A LOT to protect the right of domainers as well as those who aren’t savvy enough to realize their rights are in jeopardy.
So if you can possibly afford it, please become an ICA member. Hopefully you can still take advantage of the generous offers to match by this site’s admin and Elliot’s blog and others.
But if you can afford it yet. Join the EFF. You can do it for $10 a month. A model the ICA would do well to adopt. They need numbers as well as dollars so they should lower the barrier to entry and swell their ranks. Give us another level of membership if you have to, but do something.
Last shot at this guys
Frank has given more than 100K to the ICA.
Frank lives in the Cayman Islands. Of course he is not worried about the Bill as much as the US residents and citizens. The rest of the paragraph he wrote write after you cut off his quote, went like this:
“”””You don’t control an industry by chasing it out of the USA .. at worst, that is what this law would do. It strengthens foreign (Canadian, British, Australian, Chinese, Russian, Brazilian and Indian) companies who are unaffected by US law.””””
So what he is saying that if the times get tuff the “big” guys as you call them are heading oversea’s to Join Frank and Kevin and many of the “big” guys who do not live in the US. Unfortuntely for you “small guys” as you refer to your selfs, your not going to have the funding to move out of the US and guess who will get left to deal with this bill and it’s effects. You guys.
As for other points raised, I have suggested to the ICA that they accept monthly payments under a annual dues agreement. This is under consideration by them.
If you don’t want to join the ICA then by all means join the EFF, or the ACLU or any group that is watching out for free speech on the net and is fighting Government abuse.
Or start your own group.
Do something.
That is all my post have said.
Just don’t sit back, do nothing, and give excuses why you can’t do this or that, or why others should do more and you should do less.
” The Snowe Reverse Hijacking Bill ”
In our opinion the Snowe Bill absolutely encourages and facilitates Reverse domain hijacking. In fact the best definition of this Bill is ” The Snowe Reverse Hijacking Bill ”
___________
Jeff Schneider/ The Contact Group
USeBiz.com or UseBiz.com
I’d like to make a sizeable donation, but I don’t want o register. the ICA site says I can donate without registering, but when I go to checkout they say I have to login.
I think they could double their donations by fixing the website.
The checkout button is so small you have to really look for it.
People are impulsive, they go to the website to donate and they get frustrated and don’t come back.
Mike
I will forward your comments over to Mike Collins and see if this can be fixed
Mike
Basically changes to the Site once again come down to money.
At this point the ICA is using an off the rack type program to support the site itself and changes bascially cannot be made.
They need additional funds or some one to volunteer their time who can do some web design or programming.
Here is another way the guy’s who say I just can’t afford $300 could help, without taking any money out of their pocket.
What you do is donate to the person running against that bitch Snowe.
Take her down!!!!!
Then lets see which congress hosebag will dare to do it next.
Steve
She was just re-elected last year so she has 5 1/2 years left in her term.
There are also co-sponsors of the bill.
Contribute to the ICA instead
To do our little bit, we’re offering a free sheltering service from our UK company. May or may not be what you’re looking for.
Best,
GoldenKeyQuest.com
Here. Here. I’m so new to domaining that I don’t know enough to make an educated comment on the ICA or the threat of legislation aimed at giving control of this medium to the few who control television but that is an obvious picture in my opinion. The powers will never willing allow their networks to be diluted by domainers unless we UNITE as one and pressure the REGISTRARS, PARKING CO.’s and others who are making more on us then we are on them. If we see the threat and are willing to join ICA for $295 or $10,000 then we should take the chance and UNITE as one pulling all domains off the parking platforms until they decide to join the fight. If we’re going to lose in the end then we might as well start now and cause an affect. It’s not going to be an easy decision to join in this solidarity move because not many of you who are making big money will want to lose any even for a day but as a new domainer making very little income from my parked domains (I have around 260 domains parked around) I am already starting to work on ways to avoid building traffic to my domains thru programs which effectively control my property. Again, I am a newbie and may be completely off base but ready for appropriate responses to my comments.
I saw this posted at http://www.SubliminalMessages.com and agree with whoever it was that said that the Snowjob bill won’t pass as it is currently written.