Saturday, December 19, 2015

Non-optional perpetual customer

Must be coming up on Christmas, as I've received the quasi-annual threatening email from Network Solutions, requiring that I update/validate my contact information with them.  The penalty for not doing so is loss of domains.

The problem is that I am no longer a customer of Network Solutions.  A year ago, I finally was successful in transferring the last Network Solutions-managed account to a different, more customer-friendly registrar.  This was not an easy thing to accomplish (took days).

I can't post the email here as Network Solutions posted a copyright at the end of it and, given my to-date experiences with them, I'm of the opinion that they wouldn't hesitate to sue for theft of intellectual property.  I can, however, respond to its content and make comment:

To Network Solutions:

1) My cease and desist demand:  I am no longer a customer of yours.  I haven't been for the better part of a year.  I view your threatening email as a nuisance and will starting reporting your actions to appropriate Agencies if I receive another.

2) Your embedded statement that you will continue to send me notices, in order to fulfill your "service obligation" to me, is nonsensical.  If I'm not a paying customer, you have no service obligation and your email amounts to nothing more than unsolicited email, which might be actionable (see #1).

3) You no longer manage the domain that I'd purchased from you so many years ago.  All of my domains are managed via a different registrar (primarily because of the tone of your periodic emails and the labyrinth that you've placed in front of your customer service).

To State and Federal Agencies:

4) A copy of the Network Solutions email can be made available via the usual formal request/demand.

To everyone else:

5) Network Solutions has a practice of "slapping" a copyright notice on electronic messages (emails) to individuals.  I find this a bit strange.  I'd be interested in hearing if this has ever been tested in litigation.

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