Network Solutions Settles Duping Charges
WASHINGTON (AP) — Network Solutions, which helps Internet users register Web addresses, on Wednesday settled federal charges that it tricked consumers into transferring their domain name registrations to the company.
The Federal Trade Commission said Network Solutions mailed solicitation notices that looked like expiration notices from consumers’ current registrars.
The notices said the domain names were about to expire and Network Solutions would renew their domain names for a fee, the FTC said.
The FTC alleged this was deceptive because the notices claimed that the domain names would soon expire, but failed to identify the actual expiration dates – in some cases, months or years later.
The notices offered to renew the consumers’ domain names without disclosing that accepting the offer would cause the registration to be transferred to Network Solutions. The FTC charged that the notices tricked some consumers into transferring their domain name registrations to Network Solutions – often at a much higher price.
The settlement prohibits Network Solutions for engaging in such practices, and requires the company to follow through on a class-action lawsuit it recently settled.
Network Solutions is the largest of more than 100 companies that compete to provide domain name registration services. It is a subsidiary of VeriSign Inc., an Internet and telecommunication services company.
The company did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
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