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spam complaints
5/3/2009 13:57
Although it has not yet been an issue for me (and I don't do spamming) I have heard that sometimes you get complaints for it anyway.  I've also heard that a certain other domain registration site will shut you down immediately and take away ownership of your domain name if they get a single complaint of spamming, without even talking to you about it first.  What is Dynadot's policy about spam complaints?  Do you at least check with us first before taking any action?  What actions do you take if it happens?  I would appreciate knowing ahead of time on the off chance that it does happen to me someday...  

Thank you!

jrgoodwin
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5/9/2009 12:28
hi dynadot,

can you clarify on some points above, just so i (and others) am sure someone cant just disable a site i own with some false spam claim:

1. "First, you will receive an email warning from us"
- where are you sending this warning? to the whois email?
to my dynadot account?
- will you try to initiate communication by phone? fax? snail mail? we all know mails can fail, moreover if i imagine a scenario where someone will DDOS my email box/server to stop me from communicating with you, before i know why, it may be too late
- will you try to initiate communication via the site in question if it has a contact form? if its not DDOSed then i can likely receive your mail, if its not responding then it cant send spam cant it?

2. "we will deactivate your domain or disable your entire Dynadot account"
- how long will you wait before disabling?
- if communication is initiated after its disabled, will you reassess the situation? (given extraordinary circumstances)

3. "we will promptly start an investigation"
- is this investigation only based on information the complaining party provides? do you also request information from 3rd party providers and how much does this info weight? for eg. someone might bribe some 3rd party provider to submit false logs or god knows what


4. shouldnt this be handled in a court of law? like you working with the complaining party, providing them needed information under a court summon, and abiding to a lawful decision instead of deciding this on your own? i mean spam is against the law there, so it makes sense to take it to the law so that any suspend/disable decision is made _right_


now i know there might be clear situations where spammers simply abuse you and you need some way to fix this fast, but disabling a domain, or suspending an account, SOUNDS REALLY SCARY, a fix to this would be to temporarily disable the domain, maybe redirect (the site) to a warning page ("Please contact dynadot ASAP!") and take control of the domain only _temporary_ while you get to talk with the owner.. if you dont get a resolution that way and the situation is not 100% certain, let it get settled in court, its seems better and you will be covered against false complaint situations like im afraid of..


and to add to this, there may even be rightful spam complaints where the owner of the domain might not be exactly guilty, like a domain without SPF where a spammer simply sends email from his spam server under a random domain, or a compromised server that gets turned into a spam box - this never happened to me because i am careful about security, but it does happen to a lot of people..


[This post has been edited by phicore on May 9, 2009 12:34pm.]
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5/7/2009 17:22
Thank you for your answer.  I was concerned because someone I know had received a spam complaint out of spite and not because they actually did anything wrong.  Their registration company did not even bother to look into it first but simply shut down his site immediately.  I'm glad to know that you guys at least investigate it first.  Given that, I'm glad to continue to do business with you.

Sincerely,
jrgoodwin
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5/6/2009 18:11
Our basic procedure is outlined below.

What is your Spam Policy?

Dynadot does not allow its services to be used for the transmission of spam. If we receive any complaints about your domain being used to send spam, we will promptly start an investigation. First, you will receive an email warning from us notifying you that we have received a spam complaint for your domain(s), and asking you to stop sending spam.

If you choose to ignore our warning and continue to send spam, we will deactivate your domain or disable your entire Dynadot account (depending on the severity of the situation). You will no longer be able to control the name servers for your domain(s), and instead an error page will appear in its place. You will not receive a refund or an account credit.

To report a domain that has sent spam, please submit a spam complaint.

From Help Section: Domains > What is your Spam Policy?



[This post has been edited by dynadot_staff on May 6, 2009 6:11pm.]
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