This is a chronological record of the communications that took place when our crel.com domain was stolen from us.

The first conversation took place after crel.com was put on hold by Network Solutions (NSI) without notification for non-payment.

If you have not already done so, please first read the story about what happened. Then this information will be more meaningful.

Mon 2/7/00

I called NSI and they said it was put on hold for
non-payment.  I explained that I never received an invoice
through email or snail mail.  I verified that they had the
correct address for both and they did.  I asked how to go
about just transferring our domain from them to another
registrar.

I Spoke with Al and Steve (a manager) at Network Solutions
and they said they own the domain until it is paid and they
would not release it for transfer to another registrar until
I paid $35 for another year.  Al said they have a form for
me to fill out to transfer it once I have payed for another
year but he has to email it to me (I later found out, of
course, that this was mis-information.  A transfer is
initiated from the new registrar).  I asked him if I can get
it from their web site and he said no.  I asked why and he
said "business".  I said that was un-ethical to make me pay
for another year for a service they were not going to
provide just let me transfer the domain to another service.
He said there was no law saying they have to release it (As
you can see, ethics have nothing to do with it).

Al said that an invoice had been mailed to me through snail
mail as well as emailed to me before the payment was due.  I
received neither.  The last email I got from internic was

<mail>

From: rereg@internic.net
To: postmaster@crel.com
Subject: [NIC-990919.c09] Modify Registration CREL.COM
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 06:54:11 -0400 (EDT)

THIS IS NOT AN INVOICE, PLEASE DO NOT PAY UPON RECEIPT OF
THIS NOTICE.  YOUR BILLING CONTACT WILL RECEIVE AN INVOICE
APPROXIMATELY 30 DAYS BEFORE YOUR RENEWAL PAYMENT IS DUE.
.
. 
</mail>

Finally after I asked for a manager Steve got on the line.
After discussing it for a while with him, he finally said
they might release it without paying, but no guarantee, if I
do the paper work for another registrar and that registrar
contacts them to transfer it.  They said the only other
option was to wait another month for the domain to be
released for non-payment.  I asked if there was any way to
get it released sooner and re-register with another
registrar and he said No.  Not unless I pay for another year
of service.  I told him I was going to contact another
registrar and put in the paperwork to transfer it.

Al did email a CHANGE OF REGISTRAR AGREEMENT but it is an
agreement to transfer a domain TO Network Solutions,
not from.  Here is the note they included with the form.

<mail>

To switch from your registrar to Network Solutions, please
complete the Change of Registrar Application template below
and send it in ASCII format to registrar@netsol.com.

Best Regards,
Network Solutions

World Wide Web: http://www.networksolutions.com 
E-mail:         registrar@netsol.com

</mail>

After our long conversations, they knew exactly what I was
trying to do, and it was not to transfer a domain TO NSI.
This was just another tactic to block us from transfering
it.


Tue 2/8/00
I Spoke with Mirtha at namesecure.com and she said they have
an account with Network Solutions to directly transfer the
domain and once namesecure.com has a notarized letter from
me requesting the transfer, Network Solutions cannot deny
the transfer.

Wed 2/9/00
I mailed the notarized letter to namesecure.com requesting
to transfer crel.com from Network Solutions to them.

Wed  2/16/00
I spoke with Cartel at namesecure.com.  He had to look for
the letter.  He called me back and said the transfer will
post within 24-48 hrs.

This is where I made a mistake and let our visa debit card
get too low on funds before transfering more money into it.
Then namesecure.com drug their feet several days on
initiating the transfer which made things worse.  The credit
card only caused a 1 day delay.


Thur 2/17/00
1:30pm
I received email from jessica@namesecure.com saying our
credit card was declined for the change of registration fee.
3:40pm
I replied, stating that I transfered money into the account,
and reqested they retry the card Friday 2/18/00 after the
deposit shows.

Monday evening 2/21/00
the whois database still showed the registration at Network
Solutions.

Tuesday afternoon on 2/22/00
The domain had been released and the whois database showed
that it was available.  This is 15 days after I told NSI I
was going to try to transfer it to another registrar and
they said they would not release it for a month.

I called namesecure.com and spoke with jessica.  She said
they had not put the order through to transfer it yet and
asked me a few more questions about my contact information.

It had been 4 days since namesecure was supposed to run the
credit card through and initiate the domain transfer and
they had not contacted me about additional needed
information until I called them.  Of course, namesecure
dragging their feet only made things worse.

She said the fee would now only be $35 since it would now be
a new registration rather than a transfer.  Otherwise, they
had an additional fee to transfer the domain.  She said that
everything was now taken care of and the new registration
should show with 24-48 hrs.

Wed 2/23/00   Early afternoon
The whois database shows that another company has registered
crel.com through the following registrar.

   Domain Name: CREL.COM
   Registrar: CORE INTERNET COUNCIL OF REGISTRARS
   Whois Server: whois.corenic.net
   Referral URL: www.corenic.net
   Name Server: NS.INTERNATIONALLY.COM
   Name Server: NS2.INTERNATIONALLY.COM
   Updated Date: 21-feb-2000

The whois record record at
http://www.whois.corenic.net/cgi-bin/whois.cgi
shows

-------------------------------------
CREL DOMAIN HOSTMASTER (template
 COCO-204133) 
 1220 North Market Street
 Wilmington, DE 19801 US

 Domain Name: crel.com
 Status: production

 Admin Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
 Domain Hostmaster (COCO-123128)
 domainreg@internationally.com
 +358 407751203

 CORE Registrar: [CORE-11]

 Record created: 2000-02-22 05:01:58 MET by
 [CORE-11]

 Domain servers in listed order:

 ns.internationally.com 194.85.166.50
 ns2.internationally.com 194.85.166.51

 Database last updated on 2000-02-28 17:43:38 MET
-------------------------

Connecting to http://internationally.com/ showed that this
is a company that registers domains just to sell them to
people for hundreds of dollors.

I called Jesica at namesecure.com.  They said CORE INTERNET
COUNCIL OF REGISTRARS registered crel.com 23 minutes after
it was released.  She will try contacting them to find out
what is going on.

She called in the evening and said she could not contact
anybody from CORE (Why does that not surprise me?).

For 2 more days I tried to contact Network Solutions by
phone at all times of the day from 8am on and all lines were
always busy.  I only got a recording saying try back later.


Fri 2/25/00
I emailed
domainreg@internationally.com  and  hostmaster@internic.net

<mail to domainreg@internationally.com>

Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 08:20:50 -0600 (CST)
To: domainreg@internationally.com
Subject: Our crel.com domain

Sirs.

I was in the process of transferring our domain, crel.com,
from Network Solutions to namesecure.com but before we were
able to complete the process, it had changed to your company
in the whois database.  Please advise us what is going on or
what we should do.  crel.com has been our domain for
years. namesecure.com said it changed registrars just
minutes before their request to network solutions went
through.  I do not know how this happened.  Network
solutions told me the domain would not be released for a
month if it was not transfered the day before we mailed the
notarized letter to namesecure.com to transfer it.  We have
not been able to reach network solutions since then about it
on the phone no matter what time of day we try.

Vincent Stemen

</mail>


<mail to hostmaster@internic.net>

Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 08:39:10 -0600 (CST)
To: hostmaster@internic.net
Subject: our crel.com domain

Sirs.

I was in the process of transferring our domain, crel.com,
from Network Solutions to namesecure.com but before we were
able to complete the process, the registrar had changed to
"CORE INTERNET COUNCIL OF REGISTRARS" in the whois
database. Please advise us what is going on or what we
should do.  crel.com has been our domain for
years. namesecure.com said it changed registrars just
minutes before they attempted the request to you.  I do not
know how this happened.  Steve, a manager at Network
solutions told me the domain would not be released for
another month if it was not paid or transfered when I spoke
to him the day before we mailed the notarized letter to
namesecure.com to transfer it on Feb, 9.  We have not been
able to reach network solutions since then about it on the
phone no matter what time of day we try.

Vincent Stemen

</mail>

I received no replies from internationally.com.


Mon 2/28/00
I sent the following reply to NSI about earlier sending us the wrong
form for transfering the domain.

<mail>

To: Domain Registration Role Account 
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 11:35:04 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Re: CHANGE OF REGISTRAR AGREEMENT

Domain Registration Role Account writes:
 > Thank you for contacting Network Solutions.
 >
 > To switch from your registrar to Network Solutions, please complete the
 > Change of Registrar Application template below and send it in ASCII
 > format to registrar@netsol.com.
 >
 > Best Regards,
 > Network Solutions
 >
 > World Wide Web: http://www.networksolutions.com
 > E-mail:         registrar@netsol.com
 >
 >

Sirs.

I was trying to change our registrar from Network Solutions, not to.

I was in the process of transferring our domain, crel.com, from
Network Solutions to namesecure.com but before we were able to
complete the process, the registrar had changed to "CORE INTERNET
COUNCIL OF REGISTRARS" in the whois database.  Please advise us what
is going on or what we should do.  crel.com has been our domain since
1994.  NameSecure.com said it changed registrars just minutes before
they attempted the request to you.  I do not know how this happened.
Steve, a manager at Network solutions told me the domain would not be
released for another month if it was not paid or transfered when I
spoke to him two days before we mailed the notarized letter to
namesecure.com to transfer it on Feb, 9.  We have not been able to
reach network solutions since then about it on the phone no matter
what time of day we try.

</mail>


Wed 3/1/00
Got the following email reply from domreg@internic.net.

<mail>

Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 04:54:20 -0500 (EST)
To: Vincent Stemen
From: Domain Registration Role Account 
Subject: Re: [NIC-000225.c772] our crel.com domain
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24 PGP2]

Thank you for contacting Network Solutions.

To perform the type of change you have inquired about,
please use the Registrant Name Change Agreement, Version
3.0.  The intuitive online formats, and easy-to-use text
forms, can be found on Network Solutions' Web site at
www.networksolutions.com

This is the Whois info.:
CREL DOMAIN HOSTMASTER (template COCO-204133)
   1220 North Market Street
   Wilmington, DE   19801   US

   Domain Name: crel.com
   Status:      production

   Admin Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
      Domain Hostmaster (COCO-123128) domainreg@internationally.com
      +358 407751203

   CORE Registrar: CORE-11

   Record created:       2000-02-22 05:01:58 MET by CORE-11

   Domain servers in listed order:

   ns.internationally.com                       194.85.166.50
   ns2.internationally.com                      194.85.166.51


The Registrant Name Change Agreement addresses the following
types of changes:

     1. Correcting misspellings in the name of the registrant;
     2. Reflecting a change to the registrant's legal name;
     3. Correcting a mistake in, or omission of, the organizational
        identifier for the registrant; and
     4. Transferring a domain name registration to another registrant.

Answers to the most frequently asked questions about the
Registrant Name Change Agreement process can be found on our
Web site. Starting at our home page at
www.networksolutions.com, make the following selections:

     1. Get Help
     2. I do NOT have an Account Number and a password
        for this Web Address (an Internet Service Provider
        or Web hosting company hosts my Web Address)
     3. Frequently Asked Questions on Registrant Name Change

Best Regards,
Kari P
Network Solutions Registration Services

World Wide Web: http://www.networksolutions.com
E-mail:         hostmaster@networksolutions.com
Tax ID #:       52-1146119                       cc 1/31/00

==========================================================================


>
> Sirs.
>
> I was in the process of transferring our domain, crel.com, from Network
> Solutions to namesecure.com but before we were able to complete the
> process, the registrar had changed to "CORE INTERNET COUNCIL OF
> REGISTRARS" in the whois database. Please advise us what is going on or
> what we should do.  crel.com has been our domain for years. namesecure.com
> said it changed registrars just minutes before they attempted the request
> to you.  I do not know how this happened.  Steve, a manager at Network
> solutions told me the domain would not be released for another month if it
> was not paid or transfered when I spoke to him the day before we mailed
> the notarized letter to namesecure.com to transfer it on Feb, 9.  We have
> not been able to reach network solutions since then about it on the phone
> no matter what time of day we try.
>
>
> Vincent Stemen
>

</mail>

Notice that, even though they included my letter that they
replied to, they completely ignored what I said in my
email about the domain already being registered by somebody
else and gave me more instructions about how to transfer a
domain TO them.

Again, with no email success, I tried to contact NSI by
phone during the following week at different times of the
day from morning to evening and only got messages saying to
call back later because of high call volume.


Tue 3/7/00
Finally after about a 20 minute hold time I got through to
NSI on the phone.

First spoke to Eugene R.
-----------------------
He transfered me to the Register name change group

8:15am
Emilio S.  With the register name change group
---------

He said the registry chooses when to release the domain and
Network Solutions does not know exactly when it will be
released.  Yet, the registry is run by Network solutions
employees.  They were and still are having problems with
their email notification system.  He first said they have a
set time of 30 days after de-activation before domain names
are deleted.  Then he said they can arbitrarily delete it
anywhere from 1 day to 30 days after it is put on hold.  He
said they have waited more than 30 days for some customers
and there are no cases where they deleted it after one day.


Tue 3/7/00  1:00pm

Sent the following mail to INTERNET COUNCIL OF REGISTRARS
<secretariat@corenic.org> Stating the situation and asking for
advisement.

<mail>

Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 12:51:02 -0600 (CST)
To: INTERNET COUNCIL OF REGISTRARS  <secretariat@corenic.org>
Subject: Our crel.com domain

Sirs.

We have owned the crel.com domain for over 5 years since
November 18,1994.  Approx 2/4/00 crel.com was put on hold by
Network Solutions for non-payment.  We never received the
invoice stating payment was due either via email or
conventional mail (They told me today that they were having
problems with their email notification system then, and
currently still are).  At that point we decided to transfer
crel.com to another registrar service.  Network Solutions
told me by phone that it would be a month before the domain
was released for non-payment.

I told Network Solutions that we were going to go through
another registrar to transfer it, rather than pay them for
another year for a service that they would not be providing
and while we were trying to transfer it, Network Solutions
released it 2 weeks early and it was immediately
re-registered by internationally.com using CORE as the
registrar before we could even complete our transfer.
Looking at www.internationally.com, they appear to be a
cyber squatter registering domains to re-sell them.  I do
not know how internationally.com could have instantly known
crel.com was released to register it out from under us.
NameSecure.com said they beat us to the registration by
about 20 minutes.

I sent email to the new contact address,
domainreg@internationally.com on 2/25/00 and have received
no response.

Below is a copy of what I wrote to them.

-------------------------
Sirs.

I was in the process of transferring our domain, crel.com, from Network
Solutions to namesecure.com but before we were able to complete the
process, it had changed to your company in the whois database.  Please
advise us what is going on or what we should do.  crel.com has been our
domain for years. namesecure.com said it changed registrars just minutes
before their request to network solutions went through.  I do not know how
this happened.  Network solutions told me the domain would not be released
for a month if it was not transfered the day before we mailed the
notarized letter to namesecure.com to transfer it.  We have not been able
to reach network solutions since then about it on the phone no matter what
time of day we try.

-------------------------


We have detailed notes of dates, times, and persons we
talked to and what was said throughout this process if
needed.


Please advise.
Thank you.

Vincent Stemen

</mail>


Wed 3/8/00
Received the following non-helpfull reply from CORE

<mail>

Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 17:22:25 +0100
To: Vincent Stemen 
CC: sec@corenic.org
From: "CORE Secretariat (H)" 
Subject: Re: Our crel.com domain

Dear Vincent Stemen,

Non-payment of legacy domains (i.e.g domains that were
registered under the previous "register-first-pay-later"
mechanism under a Network Solutions Monopoly) is one of the
reasons for the rejection of transfers, accepted by ICANN
and the US Government.

It is therefore likely that an attempt to transfer an unpaid
for domain away from Network Solutions will result in the
rejection of the transfer request.

It is unclear how long NSI will be allowed maintain unpaid
domain names on its database, as logically it should be
obliged to delete them after some time.


Yours truly,

Herve Edongo

</mail>


I replied with the following letter

<mail>

Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 11:54:59 -0600 (CST)
To: "CORE Secretariat (H)" 
Cc: sec@corenic.org
Subject: Re: Our crel.com domain

Sirs.

If you connect to www.internationally.com, you will see they
are a cyber squatter that registered our name out from under
us just to sell it.  They registered it immediately when it
was released before NameSecure.com could even get it
re-registered for us.  Do you support cyber squatters?  Are
you going to allow this?  I do not even see how they could
have instantly known crel.com was briefly released out of
over a 5 year time span unless Network Solutions conspired
with them to take our domain and directly notified them, or
they are continuously running millions of dns lookups every
few minutes 24 hrs/day 365 days/year, in which I would think
the administrators of the whois server would see that as an
attack.  It is apparent that something under the table is
going on here.

</mail>

I received no further response from CORE.


Wed 3/8/00
I Emailed domains@internationally.com
the same letter I earlier sent to
their domainreg@internationally.com address on 2/25/00

This time I got this long winded reply which was basically
blackmail for $500 holding our domain name as hostage.
Notice they say the domain is NOT intended for sale.
However, not long after sending us that email and getting
no agreement from us to pay them for it, it went up for
sale.  Hmm...