Wired reports that Register.Com won in its efforts to have a judge place a preliminary injunction on web hosting service Verio that forbids Verio from using Register.Com’s database to spam people who register new domains.
The order specifically forbids Verio to use Register.Com’s database “to enable the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail, telephone calls or direct mail.”
On the one hand, the endless junk e-mails and junk mails I get simply because some company’s robot software pulled my name out of a registrar’s database is annoying (and sometimes hilarious — the “international business directory scams” are amazing). On the other hand, I’m not sure that litigation is the best response, in general, to the problem, although in this case it does seem warranted if only because Verio apparently used Register.Com’s name inappropriately in its e-mail pitch.