MacSlash is the latest victim of domain hijacking.
May 30, 2002 4:53 AM Subscribe
MacSlash is the latest victim of domain hijacking. Depending on how the DNS fairies have propagated themselves, you may be able to read MacSlash's own thread on the situation, or you may be taken to a generic Dotster page. I got Dotster at work yesterday but I'm still getting MacSlash at home. Not yet clear how this will turn out.
Right now the MacSlash thread is basically "Please post in the thread below if you can get to the site", but they've registered macslash.net, apparently, and may be back up there shortly if everything gets fubared. Updates are being posted to the Slashdot thread in the meantime.
posted by mcwetboy at 5:38 AM on May 30, 2002
posted by mcwetboy at 5:38 AM on May 30, 2002
This is insanity. My parents ISP lost their primary domain to Ultimate Search a couple of weeks ago.
Why does this never happen to the really big sites, like Yahoo! or Apple?
posted by insomnyuk at 6:20 AM on May 30, 2002
Why does this never happen to the really big sites, like Yahoo! or Apple?
posted by insomnyuk at 6:20 AM on May 30, 2002
Scary. After the last round of hijackings I put a block on registrar changes for all my domains. Don't know if that will work.
posted by neuroshred at 6:32 AM on May 30, 2002
posted by neuroshred at 6:32 AM on May 30, 2002
I wish someone would post on the site info about the domain registrar -- I want to know which registrar it was that allowed MacSlash to get hacked.
posted by jennak at 10:51 AM on May 30, 2002
posted by jennak at 10:51 AM on May 30, 2002
A note from the proprietors of MacSlash has been posted on MacRumors. I don't think they quite understand what has happened (i.e., "We are not certain at this time whether the situation is malicious or not"). But it looks like they're getting .net, .org and .info domain names, so at the very least they won't be going dark for long.
jennak: That hasn't come up in the discussions elsewhere as far as I know, but I know where I'd place my bet.
posted by mcwetboy at 11:00 AM on May 30, 2002
jennak: That hasn't come up in the discussions elsewhere as far as I know, but I know where I'd place my bet.
posted by mcwetboy at 11:00 AM on May 30, 2002
Unfortunately, it looks like they registered macslash.net with Network Solutions!
posted by mcwetboy at 12:33 PM on May 30, 2002
posted by mcwetboy at 12:33 PM on May 30, 2002
Why does this never happen to the really big sites, like Yahoo! or Apple?
Fear of lawyers. Yahoo and Apple have billions to fight for their marks.
posted by darukaru at 1:50 PM on May 30, 2002
Fear of lawyers. Yahoo and Apple have billions to fight for their marks.
posted by darukaru at 1:50 PM on May 30, 2002
I wish someone would post on the site info about the domain registrar -- I want to know which registrar it was that allowed MacSlash to get hacked.
According to several sources their domain was registered with Dotster. Unfortunately I have one of the seven domains I own with Dotster...sigh...it never ends.
posted by RevGreg at 2:05 PM on May 30, 2002
According to several sources their domain was registered with Dotster. Unfortunately I have one of the seven domains I own with Dotster...sigh...it never ends.
posted by RevGreg at 2:05 PM on May 30, 2002
It happened just this same week to the US Navy. Last year there was a big incident involving many high-profile domains, which prompted several registrars and third-parties to create value-added "domain protection" services.
posted by dhartung at 2:05 PM on May 30, 2002
posted by dhartung at 2:05 PM on May 30, 2002
Indeed, luriete, it is not altogether clear what has happened, and you may well be correct, but let's see what else comes out.
For example, I'm still getting MacSlash at home. An update posted there:
UPDATE: [J] (2002-05-30 22:29:55 GMT) Ben, who is driving somewhere between Kentucky and Washington D.C., just received a call from a V.P. at Dotster who said that his people have been receiving A LOT of emails from you guys. He is personally looking into the problem and has assured us that he will do everything in his power to get this problem corrected. If it ends up being something that Dotster cannot assist us with we have already received an offer for Pro-Bono work from a lawyer who works with domain disputes all of the time. If worst comes to worst we'll be meeting with ICANN soon.
posted by mcwetboy at 4:22 PM on May 30, 2002
For example, I'm still getting MacSlash at home. An update posted there:
UPDATE: [J] (2002-05-30 22:29:55 GMT) Ben, who is driving somewhere between Kentucky and Washington D.C., just received a call from a V.P. at Dotster who said that his people have been receiving A LOT of emails from you guys. He is personally looking into the problem and has assured us that he will do everything in his power to get this problem corrected. If it ends up being something that Dotster cannot assist us with we have already received an offer for Pro-Bono work from a lawyer who works with domain disputes all of the time. If worst comes to worst we'll be meeting with ICANN soon.
posted by mcwetboy at 4:22 PM on May 30, 2002
Was it Dotster that previously had the MacSlash registration? And did it expire? None of that is clear from what I've read on MacSlash (which I can still access just fine from home).
I'm wondering if he ran into the same situation as I did recently -- domains hosted with Dotster expired, and Dotster didn't send me any notice warning me that they were expiring, then resold one immediately without any final notice that it would happen. So it wasn't a hijack per se, but I also wasn't exactly getting the service I thought I was paying for, which should have included at least a warning before reselling the domain.
posted by litlnemo at 6:29 PM on May 30, 2002
I'm wondering if he ran into the same situation as I did recently -- domains hosted with Dotster expired, and Dotster didn't send me any notice warning me that they were expiring, then resold one immediately without any final notice that it would happen. So it wasn't a hijack per se, but I also wasn't exactly getting the service I thought I was paying for, which should have included at least a warning before reselling the domain.
posted by litlnemo at 6:29 PM on May 30, 2002
63.238.196.105 macslash.com
63.238.196.105 www.macslash.com
from a note on the above mirror - put those lines in your /etc/hosts file to see macslash.
posted by djacobs at 6:40 AM on May 31, 2002
63.238.196.105 www.macslash.com
from a note on the above mirror - put those lines in your /etc/hosts file to see macslash.
posted by djacobs at 6:40 AM on May 31, 2002
More information posted at MacSlash.org. Essentially, the renewal notice (from Dotster) was sent to a mac.com address, and mac.com (Apple's free e-mail service) has been blocking Dotster e-mail as spam. The issue is now that Apple has been filtering e-mail without its users' knowledge.
Meanwhile, macslash.com has apparently been set to point to MacMall via an affiliate program -- i.e., the new owner is using the domain to earn money at MacMall. Based on the ongoing discussion at Slashdot, MacMall doesn't have anything to do with this, and seems to be trying to do something about it. When I tried macslash.com, I got forwarded to macslash.org, so that might be that something.
posted by mcwetboy at 12:33 PM on May 31, 2002
Meanwhile, macslash.com has apparently been set to point to MacMall via an affiliate program -- i.e., the new owner is using the domain to earn money at MacMall. Based on the ongoing discussion at Slashdot, MacMall doesn't have anything to do with this, and seems to be trying to do something about it. When I tried macslash.com, I got forwarded to macslash.org, so that might be that something.
posted by mcwetboy at 12:33 PM on May 31, 2002
mac.com (Apple's free e-mail service) has been blocking Dotster e-mail as spam
Awww, fuck. I just checked and, yes, several of my Dotster domains have slipped through my fingers without my knowledge. Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick that pisses me off.
posted by kindall at 3:07 PM on May 31, 2002
Awww, fuck. I just checked and, yes, several of my Dotster domains have slipped through my fingers without my knowledge. Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick that pisses me off.
posted by kindall at 3:07 PM on May 31, 2002
According to a message I just got from Apple, Dotster was indeed spamming mac.com accounts (inculding administrative accounts) which is why they were blocked. Sigh... can't support that kind of tomfoolery. Time to move the rest of the domains to Joker.com... at least, those I can (I don't think Joker does .name or .us).
posted by kindall at 5:20 PM on May 31, 2002
posted by kindall at 5:20 PM on May 31, 2002
Oh my. This might be the explanation for my missing Dotster renewal notices, too. I don't use mac.com for this (though I have a mac.com address), but the address I do use is through a server which subscribes to some pretty hefty spam-filtering. Damn...
The one thing NetSol does do right is that they send out snail mail final notices when domains expire. I wish Dotster did that as well.
posted by litlnemo at 6:29 PM on May 31, 2002
The one thing NetSol does do right is that they send out snail mail final notices when domains expire. I wish Dotster did that as well.
posted by litlnemo at 6:29 PM on May 31, 2002
Oh my. This might be the explanation for my missing Dotster renewal notices, too. I don't use mac.com for this (though I have a mac.com address), but the address I do use is through a server which subscribes to some pretty hefty spam-filtering. Damn...
The one thing NetSol does do right is that they send out snail mail final notices when domains expire. I wish Dotster did that as well.
posted by litlnemo at 7:09 PM on May 31, 2002
The one thing NetSol does do right is that they send out snail mail final notices when domains expire. I wish Dotster did that as well.
posted by litlnemo at 7:09 PM on May 31, 2002
Wow. How did I do that? Sorry, must have gotten a little too carried away with the button-pushing. And 30 minutes apart, even!
posted by litlnemo at 7:14 PM on May 31, 2002
posted by litlnemo at 7:14 PM on May 31, 2002
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posted by Blake at 5:10 AM on May 30, 2002