Read Kieren McCarthy's "SEX.COM" to see how Network Solutions has worked the EULA pretty much from day 1. Bastards.

This is dishonest and unethical. Domain owners should receive at least free hosting if their domains are used to produce ad revenue. What if you don't agree with the advertising on your domain or worse yet, what if somone sues you for false advertising?

If my hosting provider did something like that then I'd be looking for a new one ASAP, even if you can opt-out it's morally wrong that you're automatically opted in, though when did morals ever get in the way of making a quick dollar...

I still say Bill Hicks hit the nail square on the head with his piece about "if anyone here is in marketing or advertising, kill yourself" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Why people still trust these muppets to do anything

Fortunately, I manage my own dns servers and don't have to suffer sites being hijacked, but even using "notwork solution's" site to administrate my domains is painful - almost every operation requires clicking through force-fed crap while paying them for the "privilege".

Ten years ago they had my respect and confidence, but now they're little better than a well run spam operation systematically milking everyone at every opportunity, and I resent being treated like a gullible customer.

If one has to become a registrar to be able to manage one's own domains painlessly, then sign me up!

and i don't have any but i do have a lot of active content. sounds like pwned or other rubbish and not a real issue from testing some other domains we have hosted.

urban myth in the making?

...'nice little earner'. Fasthosts and 1&1 to name two. Register any domain, and unless you've setup your own web page or forwarding, it will instantly go on their Sedo account or similar instead of offering a 404 Not Found :/

NSI was always sleazy, going back to their monopoly days (some companies just have a certain odorous je-ne-sais-quoi, you know?).

in an entropic universe that is constantly in flux, it is reassuring to see that some things never, ever change.

Only it's worse. If you make up a subdomain that starts with "www" (ie www8.darklurker.net) you first get a very simple parking page that for some strange reason seems obsessed with porn and adult "novelties". But if you refresh that page, you get a much milder page with no porn. WTF? There is no porn on darklurker.net, so I can't see why GoDaddy puts it in the parking page. Maybe they are just a bunch of horny sex-crazed buggers after all...

Anyone involved with the net thats over 30 will recall at one time Network Solutions was the ONLY game in town.

Network Solutions (like many American Corporations) once had a good standard of business but fell into the American Corporation Trens of Greed and "Do whatever we want" mission statement.

When people PAY for something there should NOT be loopholes allowing others to make money from that Paid service or product.

Offering an Opt Out for something that most users are un aware of should be illegal to say the least. Where I live policy, terms, conditions and the such are NOT bindable or enforceable unless one has been made aware of it. Sticking "Questionable" items deep in an EULA should not be allowed either.

I have a set or Terms and Policy as well (yes its actually legal) and anyone using my Debit Card to take a payment becomes bound to them, the notice is on the back of my card, so if I was with NS they would owe me 90% of the revenu.

Remember Network Solutions is/was in mega Legal hot water with ICAN for holding Domain Names that people looked up using the NS WhoIs. That should have been a sign that other "Questionable" issues would follow.

Suggestion: DONT USE Network Solutions

deserve to get shafted as badly as the sum total of what they've dished out to others. With interest. I will never again do business with Network Solutions, Inc, nor with any known subsidiaries, successors or assigns. Two of the first questions I ask any Web-development client prospects are "who is your hosting provider? who is your registrar?" If either of those come back "NetSol" or "I don't know" (depressingly common for registrars), I show them a whois on their domain along with the first few pages of search-engine results for "network solutions" and several 'colorful metaphors' such as those expressed above. You'd be amazed at the cluelessness; some of these people wouldn't know a cluetrain if it ran them over whilst they were tied to the rails.

@John Lodge: "a touch unethical"? is that like "a little bit pregnant" or "slightly evil"? Details (off-list, natch) would be highly appreciated; ay and all available weapons we can use to beat these fraudsters and those who would willingly become victims into a bloody pulp with only subatomic cohesion are, in my view, a Very Good Thing.