In January 2003 Nominet discovered that its WHOIS database –
which lists domain names and their owners – had been the subject of
data mining attacks.
According to the registry, the sheer scale of the assaults
forced it to suspend the WHOIS system for the only time in its
six-year history, and led to the 'scraping' of the details of many
.uk domain name holders. Following the theft, 50,000 registrants
received misleading notices from an outfit calling itself "UK
Internet Registry".
At the time, Nominet warned its registrants to disregard the
notices, which resembled invoices and told recipients that the .com
version of the .co.uk name was unregistered and available for
purchase.
The registry also initiated an investigation, which eventually
led to two Australians, Chesley Rafferty and Bradley Norrish, and
three of their companies – Diverse Internet Pty Ltd, Internet
Payments Pty Ltd and Seychelles-based UK Internet Registry Ltd.
Four of the five admitted guilt, and the remaining suspect,
Bradley Norrish, was taken to court. According to Nominet, Justice
French of the Federal Court of Australia has now found that Norrish
had authorised copyright infringement, and was involved in
misleading or deceptive conduct.
"It lies beyond the limits of credulity" to suppose that Mr
Norrish had no idea of what was going on, said the Judge, adding
that he was "in the scheme with Mr Rafferty," and that the notices
sent by UK Internet Registry were "nothing less than
deceitful".
"We are delighted by this result, particularly as it upholds our
ability to protect information relating to .uk registrants," said
Nominet Managing Director, Lesley Cowley. "Naturally, we want to
control use of the intellectual property that we hold and to have
succeeded in protecting our copyright ownership is a significant
outcome for us, the industry globally and for registrants who do
not want to receive scam notices."
"By fighting, and winning, this case we are saying very clearly
that scamming is a serious industry issue which will not be
tolerated and anyone caught doing it will be pursued and brought to
justice," she added.
According to Nominet, the registry will continue to pursue Mr
Rafferty, Mr Norrish and the companies for costs and damages and
will also seek additional damages for the flagrancy and extent of
the copyright infringement.
The registry also advised registrants receiving invoices in
relation to domain names to carefully check their authenticity and,
if in any doubt, to contact their Internet Service Provider or
Nominet.
