Re: .edu.com domain

[James Meyers <A02JDM1 () WPO CSO NIU EDU>]

I can say that www.niu.edu.com had been pretenting to be Northern
Illinois University.  I was discussing with our legal dept on what, if
any, action we would take.  To date we have not contacted Vantage Media,
but as of today (maybe earlier) our "site" is now "not found".

Maybe I should call to complain????  Just kidding!



Jim Meyers
Manager, IT Security
Enterprise Systems Support
Northern Illinois University
voice: 815.753.8538
fax: 815.753.2555
jdmeyers () niu edu




> > > Ken.Connelly () UNI EDU 4/6/2006 9:28:37 AM >>>
I think they've made some sort of mass change.  At least everything
that
I've tried has come back with a 404.

- ken

Sadler, Connie wrote:

> I received the same form letter yesterday - over a week after they
> removed Brown. I made one phone call and sent one email request. I
> believe they are answering a lot of phone calls, receiving a lot of
> email requests and now sending out a lot of these form letters. Isn't
> there a simpler way to take care of this?
>
> Connie J. Sadler, CM, CISSP, CISM, GIAC GSLC
> Director, IT Security, Brown University
> Box 1885, Providence, RI 02912
> Office: 401-863-7266
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Etherton [mailto:de2141 () COLUMBIA EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 8:15 AM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] .edu.com domain
>
> All,
>
> It is interesting that this came to the list-serv attention so
quickly.
> We also requested cease and desist and got the same form letter as
Mr.
> Bruce from Simmons.
>
> David Etherton
> Associate Director, Client Services
> Student Information Systems
> Columbia University
> 201 Philosophy Hall
> (office) 212-854-0651
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Bruce [mailto:david.bruce () SIMMONS EDU]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 8:14 PM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] .edu.com domain
>
> Form letter.  I didn't raise any of these points.  I just asked them
to
> take us off.
>
> Anyway we're off now... their response:
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>
> > From: "Brad Lohan" <brad () vantagemedia com>
> > Date: April 5, 2006 7:36:52 PM EDT
> > To: <david.bruce () simmons edu>
> > Cc: <mark () vantagemedia com>, <CVandenbosch () sheppardmullin com>,
> > <LBraun () sheppardmullin com>
> > Subject: Simmons.edu.com
> >
> > Dear Mr. Bruce:
> >
> > This responds to your letter of March 24, 2006.  Contrary to your
> > assertion, Vantage Media has not registered any domain name that
> > incorporates your school's trademark.  Rather, we own a registration

> > for the edu.com domain.  If an individual voluntarily enters your
> > school's name in connection with our edu.com domain name, that
> > individual may access a domain subdirectory that is in turn used to
> > forward a bona fide inquiry to the requested institution.  The
> > subdirectory does not constitute a separate domain name, and it is
> > therefore not assignable to your school.
> >
> > To be clear, Vantage Media has not registered your trademark in any
> > form, it does not prevent anyone from obtaining bona fide information

> > about your school, and it does not falsely represent to be affiliated

> > with your institution.
> >
> > For these reasons, we disagree with the points raised in your
letter.
> >
>
>
>
> > However, in the interest of preserving Vantage Media's business
> > reputation, we have decided at this time to remove content from the
> > referenced subdirectory on our edu.com domain.  We trust that this
> > concludes the matter to your school's satisfaction.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > Brad Lohan
> >
> > Brad Lohan  |  Analyst
> > p] 310.482.3737 | f] 310.943.1620
> > e] brad () vantagemedia com
>
>
> On Apr 5, 2006, at 7:58 PM, Dave Koontz wrote:
>
>
>
> > Whoa, I just checked our domain on their site and it returns a
> > completely different school!  Our domain is mbc.edu - Mary Baldwin
> > College (http://www.mbc.edu), yet when I access http://mbc.edu.com it

> > returns "Morris Brown College" instead!  I wonder if Morris Brown
paid
> >
>
>
>
> > these guys to get the mbc.edu.com address?  Should I turn this over
to
> >
>
>
>
> > our legal team or contact this questionable company?  Any tips on how

> > I should proceed would be appreciated!
> >
> > PS:  I've also noticed a very high number of 'spam' emails to our
> > students from this organization over the last few weeks.
> >
> > ---
> > Dave Koontz
> > Associate Director CIS
> > Mary Baldwin College
> >
> > Walter Bourne wrote:
> >
> >
> > > It's possible to get 'off'.  Try
> > > <http://msu.edu.com/>
> > >
> > > Our Admissions and Counsel are doing a cease-and-desist.
> > >
> > > ==Walter Bourne
> > >  Columbia University
> > >  IT Security & Policy
> > >
> > > --On Wednesday, April 05, 2006 15:55 -0500 Graham Toal
> > > <gtoal () utpa edu>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > : > I do not know if they actually forward
> > > : > the information, it appears the primary purpose is to harvest
> > > : > information for marketing.
> > > :
> > > : More likely harvest leads to sell back to the Universities.
> > > : And I would imagine if you don't advertise with them,
> > > : some rival university will be prominent when someone
> > > : stumbles on their site looking for you.
> > > :
> > > : Here's a good article on their business model:
> > > :
> > > : http://www.jayweintraub.com/2005/08/trends_report_a.html
> > > :
> > > : G
>
> --
> David Bruce                                          Phone:
617.521.2187
> Director of Networks and Servers                     Fax:
617.521.3082
> Simmons College, Technology
> 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115-5898
david.bruce () simmons edu
>

--
- Ken
=================================================================
Ken Connelly             Associate Director, Security and Systems
ITS Network Services                  University of Northern Iowa
email: Ken.Connelly () uni edu   p: (319) 273-5850 f: (319) 273-7373
It's much more important to know what you don't know than what you do
know!