What's that burning tire smell? It's Microsoft screeching away from the No-IP car crash Microsoft has settled its legal fight with Vitalwerks, the owner of the No-IP dynamic DNS service that Redmond crippled last week. Last week Microsoft was granted a temporary restraining order against No-IP – and was handed control of 23 of its domains after convincing a Nevada judge that the DDNS service was acting as a …
I know that i'm using them as a free service, but I'd like to see No-IP offer me some compensation for the down time (obviously Microsoft would be responsible). Upgrade to premium service for a couple of months or just disable the nagging login requirement for a little while. I mean, once they finally got my account up and running again, I received an email saying that my domain (which was confirmed active not more than a week before the lockout) was canceled from inactivity. They just had some major bugs on their end with the whole ordeal and my feelings on their reactions to the customers (albeit some non-paying) was one of lack of care.
I'm paying £17 a year for the enhanced service, so I'd like to see a pro-rata compensation from Microsoft. Additionally, there should be compensation for disruption to my legitimate use of my subdomain followed by damages for publicly associating me with criminal activity, personal inconvenience, mental anguish and emotional distress and ....er, ... that's how the legal system works isn't it?
Tortuious interference with contract?
It might fly - IF you were a paying customer.
The No-IP ToS is here: http://www.noip.com/legal/tos
(Caps are their doing, not mine.)
No-IP SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES RELATED TO THE ServiceS, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION: 1) ANY WARRANTIES CONCERNING THE AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY OR CONTENT OF INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR ServiceS; AND 2) ANY WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THIS DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY APPLIES TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY CAUSED BY ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS, COMMUNICATION LINE FAILURE, THEFT OR DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR USE OF RECORD, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTIOUS BEHAVIOR, NEGLIGENCE, OR UNDER ANY OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION
In short: get lost, valued customer
@ NP-Hardass
I know that i'm using them as a free service, but I'd like to see No-IP offer me some compensation for the down time (obviously Microsoft would be responsible). Upgrade to premium service for a couple of months or just disable the nagging login requirement for a little while
That right there is what's wrong with this planet.
Everybody's got such a huge sense of entitlement, even if they're getting something for fuck all.
Pay for a fixed IP you cheap bastard.
"Just like when you call a bank and tell them their ATM has a skimmer on it. They laugh and hang up."
Our banks have much more composure than that. Here they say "We'll take that under advisement" - once you get past the multi-stage automated phone menu that is.
> Just like when you call a bank and tell them their ATM has a skimmer on it. They laugh and hang up.
That's why I did a good Samaritan action and ripped the fucking thing clean off the machine.
Turns out the fucking thing in question was actually an anti-skim device they had installed earlier that day. It looked dodgy as hell though. :-/
Haha, Microsoft know the messed this one up big time and knew they would lose a court case filed against them on this. Much the same as if I claimed the windows and microsoft domain names because they are enabling malware to spread by selling windows. Thats as much the same as stating that this company shouldn't offer sub domains because it helps spread malware. A side effect of a legitimate business does not give another company the right to come in and remove your property and ability to carry out business.
MS screwed up in a major way and as usual it looks like it will escape getting any kind of legal slap-down by tossing money at the situation. Hate those 'undisclosed' settlements and their accompanying non-disclosure orders. MS may be able to pay off VitalWerks in this matter but hopefully there will be a class-action suit brought by all those affected individuals.
Everyone seems to have missed the point - Microsoft managed to convince a judge to sign that order.
The judge is the one who signed the order, if (s)he is incapable of understanding tech issues, then why should (s)he remain on the bench?
What should now occur is an examination of the evidence submitted, and if it does not pass muster, then proceedings should begin to remove that judge from office, and possibly have (her) him disbarred.
And if the evidence was 'weak' to begin with, then the lawyers at Microsoft ought to face discipline for their abuse of the legal process.
Too late - I moved all services to changeip.com last Tuesday - no point going back, and I bet I'm not the only customer who jumped ship.
The good thing about DNS service providers is that there is still a competetive market out there, so finding alternative providers is quick and easy, and you are only limited by the TTL settings of your CNAMEs.
Whether I renew with No-IP at the end of the year depends on how they handle this, and I hope that other customers are paying attention, as well. MS abused the legal system at our expense, and a judge was too lazy/stupid/negligent to do his job by properly reviewing the motion. Will Vitalwerks defend its customers, or will they sell us out for MS' hush money?
In defense of the judge, they often only know what they are told.
They don't do independent research.
It appears that Microsoft attorneys made a claim that NoIP was part of the criminal activity, thus an 'ex parte' ruling was appropriate. They likely also made a claim that they would take responsibility for DNS responses for innocent third parties, thus no damage would occur should their claim turn out to be incorrect.
The judge looks at the claims of one of the world's largest companies, no doubt with the most prestigious lawyers that money can buy, and takes the claims at face value.
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