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List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] Internic Whois Database Tapped for CD
From:       mea culpa <jericho () dimensional ! com>
Date:       1998-09-24 18:59:04
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Forwarded From: phreak moi <hackerelite@deathsdoor.com>

Inter@ctive WeekSeptember 21, 1998
'Whois' Database Tapped For CD
By Randy Barrett
8:00 AM EDT

Two newcomers think they'll strike it rich on Network Solutions Inc.'s
domain name database. 

Domains on Disc Inc., based in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, plans to retail a
two-CD set of the Whois database of 2.8 million records in October. 

The database includes the names, addresses and telephone numbers of
persons who hold names in the .com, .edu and .net domains. Domains on Disc
views the database as a powerful direct marketing tool. 

"The Internet will never be the same," said Domains on Disc Marketing
Consultant John Deulloa. 

NSI experienced operational problems after Domains on Disc spent weeks
heavily taxing the Whois servers. NSI finally blocked the company's
intrusion, but not before it had successfully downloaded all the records. 

"We have the most up-to-date information that InterNIC has," said Domains
on Disc President Sam Afifi, who added he didn't mean to cause NSI any
problems. 

Afifi's company has formatted the information and plans to sell it for use
on individual PCs for $250. The disks will include Microsoft Corp.'s
Access Run Time search code to allow users to query the database by name,
ZIP code, phone number, fax number, region, domain name server, Internet
Protocol address, Web site title and more. 

The primary targets for the CD are Web site vendors and Internet hardware
marketers. Afifi said he will be able to keep the information updated
despite NSI's lockout by mining new data less aggressively. "We'll have to
run fewer computers simultaneously," he said. 

The Whois database, which is open to the public, is regularly culled for
marketing leads. A company called Imperative! marketed packaged lists from
Whois to companies such as Verio Inc. and the regional Bell telephone
companies, but brainchild Michael Bauer sold out in July and joined a
start-up called iAtlas Corp. in Laurel, Md. Bauer said he doesn't think
selling Whois CDs will work and that the CD route was tried unsuccessfully
a few years ago by a company called Pro CD. 

"It's too dynamic. The real value starts to come when you merge that data
with other kinds of [information]," he said. 

IAtlas is using Whois information as one leg of a complex database that
includes empirical business information from non-Internet sources. 

Many domain name holders complain the Whois database is badly out of date.
Phone numbers and names are often incorrect, and some people purposefully
use bogus contact information. The remainder get a blizzard of direct mail
and spam. 

"Personally, it infuriates the hell out of me," said anti-spam advocate
Ray Everett-Church. "As owner of my domain, I have no choice but to be
listed." 

-o-
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