There is a new company called "Electronic Domain Name Monitoring" which you may get letters or faxes from... They read something like: "*** FINAL NOTICE *** FINAL NOTICE *** URGENT NOTICE OF IDENTICAL DOMAIN NAME APPLICATION BY A THIRD PARTY Please be advised that the above noted domain name has been submitted for registration, consequently, it is our opinion that this application may be submitted in bad faith for one or more of the following reasons......" Basically, this company becomes an affiliate to various hosting providers and registration resellers, possibly even to Network Solutions itself, although I was not able to get specific information. It asks them to send it new registration requests before they are approved. It then notifies anyone with a similar domain name or trade mark that the domain is being registered, and if so, it asks the registrar to prevent the registration, and instead registers the domain name with Network Solutions for the owner of the similar domain name or trade mark holder. Why is this a scam? This company presents itself as an authority, and acts as if it has official officers who are part of some team that regulates the Internet. Instead it just diverts registrations to Network Solutions!!! Short of saying it is a branch of the US government, they do a lot to make themselves sound official on the phone. The letter they send out looks scary, using lots of legalese, or like a Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes joke, depending on how you read it. "In addition to remedies provided for by the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Policy, Section 4a (1)(2)(3) & b (1)(2)(3)(4), EDNM provides existing registrants, trademark and service mark owners with a first-right-to-use preference on domain names which are identical or confusingly similar to their own." Now, I don't think notifying people in advance because their domain name is being registered with a different extension and giving them the option to take the new registration is fair, or even legitimate, but this topic is already strecthing it for this mailing list. -- "Should we now be comfortable with a 'trust us, we're the government' approach?" he said. "I don't think anybody on this committee shares that view." -John Conyers, House Judiciary Committee