Taking a look at GoDaddy’s Terms of Service (TOS)
It’s been a few days since GoDaddy became the center of controversy over its abrubt decision to change the DNS of one of its customer’s domains. We still haven’t heard from GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons (although he has since blogged about CBS accepting his company’s Super Bowl ad.) If we don’t hear from Parsons on his blog we can assume he has no good answers to what happened. On other domain related issues he has researched all of the facts and written detailed blog entries.
I just reviewed GoDaddy’s Terms of Service (TOS). The relevant, and potentially most harmful portion, is as follows:
You agree that Go Daddy, in its sole discretion and without liability to You, may refuse to accept the registration of any domain name. Go Daddy also may in its sole discretion and without liability to You delete the registration of any domain name during the first thirty (30) days after registration has taken place. Go Daddy may also cancel the registration of a domain name, after thirty (30) days, if that name is being used, as determined by Go Daddy in its sole discretion, in association with spam or morally objectionable activities. Morally objectionable activities will include, but not be limited to: activities designed to defame, embarrass, harm, abuse, threaten, slander or harass third parties; activities prohibited by the laws of the United States and/or foreign territories in which You conduct business; activities designed to encourage unlawful behavior by others, such as hate crimes, terrorism and child pornography; activities that are tortious, vulgar, obscene, invasive of the privacy of a third party, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable; activities designed to impersonate the identity of a third party; and activities designed to harm or use unethically minors in any way. In the event Go Daddy refuses a registration or deletes an existing registration during the first thirty (30) days after registration, You will receive a refund of any fees paid to Go Daddy in connection with the registration either being canceled or refused. In the event Go Daddy deletes the registration of a domain name being used in association with spam or morally objectionable activities, no refund will be issued.
The general idea behind this is good, but it doesn’t draw any lines. For example, if you used a domain name to write something embarrassing about a politician, could GoDaddy cancel the registration?
To be fair, other registrars have similar clauses in their registration agreements. Few people ever read these terms.
Here is Dotster’s language:
Dotster, Inc. and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to refuse or move any Content that is available via our services. Without limiting the foregoing, Dotster, Inc. and its designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates this Registration Agreement or is otherwise objectionable. Further, you acknowledge and agree that Dotster, Inc. may preserve Content and may also disclose such Content if required to do so by law or upon the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce this Registration Agreement; (c) respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third-parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Dotster, Inc., its users and the public. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content created by Dotster, Inc. or submitted to Dotster, Inc., including without limitation information in Message Boards and all other parts of our services.
It’s unclear whether “content available through our services” would mean content hosted elsewhere using a domain name registered through Dotster.
Register.com:
You acknowledge and agree that Register.com may suspend, cancel, transfer or modify your use of the Services at any time, for any reason, in Register.com’s sole discretion and without notice to you. You also acknowledge and agree that Register.com shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any such modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Services. Without limiting the foregoing, Register.com may, in its sole discretion, suspend, cancel, transfer or modify a domain name registration (a) to correct mistakes made by Register.com, another registrar, or the applicable registry administrator, (b) to resolve a dispute related to that domain name, (c) within thirty (30) calendar days of the creation date of that domain name registration, (d) if you materially breach this Agreement (including any applicable additional rule or policy) and do not cure such breach within five (5) calendar days of notice by Register.com, (e) if you use the domain name registered to you to send unsolicited commercial advertisements in contradiction to either applicable laws or customary acceptable usage policies of the Internet, or (f) if you use a domain name in connection with unlawful activity.
What it comes down to is trust. Yes, any registrar can do just about anything to your registration when push comes to shove. But which registrar do you trust to not capitulate to big companies and do the right thing?
