domainwatch.org

Regarding Chesley Rafferty’s claim in the newspaper article below that I am “obsessive compulsive” about his operations, I have the following statement to make:

It is the type of behaviour that is of interest not the personalities. I have been consistent with my approach to this kind of behaviour long before Chesley Rafferty and Bradley Norrish arrived on the scene (see the domainwatch.org and dotau.org archives). It is also my belief that past behaviour is usually the best predictor of future behaviour.

As long as domain registrants believe they are being misled and deceived then I will continue to watch those companies and people responsible.

Here are three examples:

Example 1:

November 26, 2001
Aust domain name resellers brace for bloodbath
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Aust_domain_name_resellers_brace_for_bloodbath/0,39023166,20262049,00.htm

Mark Spektor (Internet Name Group) asserted ” … Rowe has been conducting a smear campaign against us for sometime and has refused to desist … ”

July 11, 2006
Domain name entrepreneur declared bankrupt
http://www.theage.com.au/news/biztech/domain-name-entrepreneur-declared-bankrupt/2006/07/10/1152383674987.html?page=fullpage

” … Mr Rafferty accuses Mr Rowe of being “obsessive compulsive” about his operations … ”

Example 2:

Blair Rafferty’s DomainName.com.au Pty Ltd, which ” … (Chesley) Rafferty says he has nothing to with the operation of … “, is the latest addition to the watch list.

Example 3:

Here are some of the companies and people reported on domainwatch.org - does Chesley Rafferty’s quote in today’s Age infer that they all relate to him?

Blair Rafferty
Bradley Norrish
Chesley Rafferty
ComAURegister
Craig Oehlers
Diverse Internet
Domain Name Authority of Australia
Domain Names Australia
Domain Names NZ
Domain Services
DomainName.com.au
Domains Australia
Ezinames
Federal Bureau of Domain Names
IMCO Corporation
Internet Name Group
Internet Registrations Australia
Internet Registrations Worldwide
Internet Registry
iRegistrations
NetRegister
Paul Fox
Peter Jacobs
ProWeb Solutions
Registry Group
UK Internet Registry

Domain name entrepreneur declared bankrupt
http://www.theage.com.au/news/biztech/domain-name-entrepreneur-declared-bankrupt/2006/07/10/1152383674987.html?page=fullpage

” …

Domain name entrepreneur declared bankrupt
Nick Miller
July 11, 2006
Next

CONTROVERSIAL internet domain name entrepreneur Brad Norrish has been declared bankrupt, but the brother of his former business partner is still selling domain names.

Domainwatch.org, a self-appointed watchdog of Mr Norrish’s operations has warned businesses to keep a keen eye out for domain name marketing spam that closly resembles an invoice.

Mr Norrish, 27, from Western Australia, was declared bankrupt last Monday, which he says will “bring varying levels of happiness to those involved in selling domains”.

Mr Norrish signed off an email to an industry listgroup with the promise, “if the game’s still worth playing in 3 years time I might just get a recall . . . with fresh legs”.

“The game” is the lucrative business of marketing domain name registrations. But Mr Norrish and his business partner, Chesley Rafferty, have been warned by the umpire that they play outside the rules.

Last year the Federal Court awarded $1.3 million damages for breach of copyright against Mr Norrish and Mr Rafferty. The court found they had used data mining search techniques to copy a British domain name registrar’s database of customers.

They then sent 50,000 “invoices” to those customers telling them their domain was up for renewal, a practice known as “domain slamming”.

Lesley Cowley, CEO of Nominet, says: “The bankruptcy brings an appropriate and successful end to the litigation against (Norrish and Rafferty).”

Mr Norrish says the bankruptcy “takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders”.

“It’s the end to a long and pitiful legal dispute,” he says.

He says he is still friends, but not a business partner, with Mr Rafferty.

In 2004, the Federal Court found Mr Rafferty and his company, Domain Names Australia (DNA), guilty of false and misleading conduct under the Trade Practices Act for a similar operation: mailing hundreds of thousands of notices that looked like invoices for renewal of a domain name.

If filled in and returned, the notices registered a new domain name through Mr Rafferty’s company.

The court instructed Mr Rafferty to let his customers know of the deception.

When contacted by Next, Mr Rafferty said there had been “a lot of hype” about his marketing style. DNA continued to operate after the Federal Court action, changing the notices to comply with the court’s ruling, he says.

DNA has since been wound up. Mr Rafferty says that since his bankruptcy late last year he has not been doing “anything” - apart from some consulting work - in the area of domain name marketing.

However, ASIC records reveal that Mr Rafferty’s younger brother, Blair, took over Chesley Rafferty’s roles as director of the companies Domains Australia, Domainname.com.au and Firebird Corporation.

Domainname.com.au, based in Melbourne but registered in WA, offers domain registration and website hosting.

According to the Domainwatch.org website, customers are complaining about marketing material that Domainname.com.au sends out offering domain name registration. One customer says the material gives the false impression of being invoices renewing an existing domain.

Domainwatch.org writer Josh Rowe says domain name registration is a difficult industry to police.

“Beware ‘invoices’ coming from companies you are not aware of, and always go back to check who you have registered a domain with,” Mr Rowe says.

However, Mr Rafferty accuses Mr Rowe of being “obsessive compulsive” about his operations.

“There’s a lot of people in the industry that got in trouble that he doesn’t seem to write about,” he says. “Where’s letters about (accused domain slammer) Domain Registry of America? They still mail into Australia . . . they would have made 10 times or more money than myself or Brad (Norrish).”

Mr Rafferty says he has nothing to to with the operation of his brother’s company, Domainname.com.au. Blair Rafferty could not be contacted by Next.

Mr Norrish says he is no longer marketing domain names.

“Domain names rate alongside roo shooting in terms of market size,” he says. “I would like to be in a market that there is more room to move in.”

Earlier this year he was accused of “cybersquatting” alternative versions of well-known corporations’ sites.

He attracted the ire of US sports TV channel ESPN by registering the domain name espn.com.au and was ordered to surrender ownership of the domain webjet.com.

However, Mr Norrish says the ESPN site was registered by an employee without his knowledge.

He says “in the past” he owned thousands of domain names because “the market was very cheap”, but the company that owned the names is in administration.

“I think domain name registration should be handled by a government department, along with business name registration and company registration,” he says.

“The ’self-regulated’ system at the moment really means that (domain register) auDA is controlled by popular vote of the majority of domain providers”.

… “

Oz domain name scammer declares bankruptcy
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/05/oz_domain_scam/

” …

Oz domain name scammer declares bankruptcy

Shown the pink card

By John Leyden
Published Wednesday 5th July 2006 12:34 GMT

Australian domain name scammer Bradley Norrish has declared himself bankrupt.

Bradley Norrish, along with business partner Chesley Rafferty, ran an outfit called UK Internet Registry, and three other firms, which sent 50,000 fake invoices to domain name holders in the UK during 2003. The information needed to mount the scam was obtained from a data mining attack on the .uk WHOIS database.

The scale of the attack was so severe that Nominet, the .uk internet domain name registry, was forced to suspend its WHOIS database, which allows people to check the registrants of domain names for nine hours to prevent further abuse.

Nominet linked the attack back to UK Internet Registry and sued the firm and its directors for breach of copyright and offences against Australian fair trade laws.

An Australian court upheld Nominet’s complaint, paving the way for it to sue for costs and damages. In January 2006, Nominet was awarded A$1.3m ($970K) in damages against Chesley Rafferty and Bradley Norrish for copyright infringement, as well as an additional A$500K ($373K) stipend to reflect the “flagrancy” of the breaches.

In a letter, published by Domainwatch, Norrish said although he’d been forced to declare himself broke because of legal judgments against him, he might yet return to the domain name business.

“I’m sure most of you on the domain list will be pleased to hear I am now declared officially bankrupt. This will undoubtedly bring varying levels of happiness to those involved in selling domains from those who raise a slight smile, to those who leap enthusiastically out of their chairs,” Norrish writes.

“It was officially at 4.50pm yesterday afternoon that the Pink Bankruptcy Card was raised to send me off the field for three years. So a big congratulations to the captain of the opposite team Nominet as well as all their supporters. If the game’s still worth playing in three years time I might just get a recall, and if I do you know it will be with fresh legs.”

Nominet said the rocky financial straits Norrish finds himself in are a just a consequence of his abuse of the WHOIS registry. Nominet chief executive Lesley Cowley commented: “The bankruptcy brings an appropriate and successful end to the litigation against the directors of UK Internet Registry and proves that data mining the WHOIS is a serious industry issue that Nominet will not tolerate.

“It has been a long, expensive and often challenging process, but we take protection of our intellectual property and copyright ownership very seriously. This case proves that we can and will detect, track down and sue for WHOIS infringement to protect our business and our .uk registrants from domain name scams,” she added.

… “

Internet scammer announces bankruptcy
http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=3106

” …

July 04 2006
Domainwatch.org today posted a letter from Australian domain name scammer, Bradley Norrish, announcing his declaration of bankruptcy.

http://domainwatch.org/archives/2006/07/04/bradley-norrish-bankrupt/

Lesley Cowley, CEO, Nominet, commented: “The bankruptcy brings an appropriate and successful end to the litigation against the directors of UK Internet Registry and proves that datamining the WHOIS is a serious industry issue that Nominet will not tolerate. It has been a long, expensive and often challenging process, but we take protection of our intellectual property and copyright ownership very seriously. This case proves that we can and will detect, track down and sue for WHOIS infringement to protect our business and our .uk registrants from domain name scams.”

This case was brought by Nominet against Chesley Rafferty and Bradley Norrish and 3 of their companies in the Federal Court of Australia following Nominet’s discovery in January 2003 that its WHOIS database had been the subject of concerted data mining attacks. This database is commonly used by Internet users to check who is the registrant of a domain name. The sheer scale of these assaults subsequently forced Nominet to suspend its WHOIS system for the only time in its six year history. The attacks captured details of many .uk domain name holders and resulted in 50,000 registrants receiving misleading notices from “UK Internet Registry” regarding their domain name registrations.

In January 2006, Nominet was awarded AUD $1.3 million in damages to conclude the battle against Chesley Rafferty and Bradley Norrish. The Court awarded actual damages for copyright infringement, underlining the value of Nominet’s .uk Register and copyright ownership of its databases, as well as additional damages to reflect the “flagrancy” of the breaches, in using Nominet’s records for direct marketing purposes. The award of AUD $500,000 for the misuse of the data is one of the highest additional damages awards ever made by the Australian Courts.

… “

Nominet has been successful in bankrupting Brad Norrish after freezing his assets.

Let’s hope this serves as a deterrent for others in the future.

Chesley Rafferty forwarded the following email to the .au DNS List, which is apparently from Brad Norrish:

from: http://dotau.org/archive/2006-07/0015.html

” …

From: Chesley Rafferty chesleyau@yahoo.com.au
Date: Tue Jul 04 2006 - 02:17:09 UTC

Brad asked me to forward this to the list as he’s not
subscribed :

I’m sure most of you on the domain list will be
pleased to hear I am now declared officially bankrupt.

This will undoubtedly bring varying levels of
happiness to those involved in selling domains from
those who raise a slight smile, to those who leap
enthusiastically out of their chairs with their hands
and feet in the air before landing just in time to
start the exciting scramble to cut out and gather news
articles.

I suggest you take off the Bow Tie, set the TiVo to
record Big Brother and put off updating your blogs and
go have a few celebratory beers down the local pub
because something this exciting might not happen again
for a few more years to come.

It was officially at 4.50pm yesterday afternoon that
the Pink Bankruptcy Card was raised to send me off the
field for 3 years. So a big Congratulations to the
captain of the opposite team Nominet as well as all
their supporters. A special mention to their sponsors
the UK domain registrants, their coach Allens. Well
done to the Groundskeeper Chris and a round of
applause to the Players Enetica, Explorer,
Benchwarmers Rod and Ron, a can of Fanta and a bag of
lollies to Waterboy Josh.

If the game’s still worth playing in 3 years time I
might just get a recall, and if I do you know it will
be with fresh legs,

All the Best

Brad

… “

ccTLD ICANN Meetings in Wellington, New Zealand, 25-31 March 2006
http://www.wwtld.org/meetings/cctld/20060326.Wellington-agenda.html

” …

wwTLD meeting Wellington Sunday 26th March
…

ccTLDs best practices: latest and future developments
…

15:15 Session 5: Nominet Legal Case: Score 1 for the Registry
Presentation of The Ches & Brad Case, Emily Taylor, .uk and Jackie O’Brien, Allens Arthur Robinson.

… “

Emily Taylor’s presentation is available here (700k PDF).