Google.de hijacked, then dropped; now owned by drop catching firm
Earlier today, the domain google.de displayed a "no site available" notice by German webhosting provider goneo.de:
(Thanks to Michael Hübl for the screenshot). While the domain's name servers are now back to the usual ns1.google.com to ns2.google.com and google.de displays the German Google site again, google.de remains under ownership of "favo" from Wiesbaden, a German town of 274,000 inhabitants:
Go to the DeNIC Whois and enter google.de to check if the details are still the same.
Update: There is a lot of speculation going on on German blogs as to why google.de was transferred to its new owner. It's most likely that Google simply forgot to renew its domain had failed to respond to an automated request asking for its approval of the domain transfer. (See this post for the latest update.) When DeNIC tried to transfer google.de back to Google, they briefly dropped the domain, which led to its registration by http://www.freshdomains.de, which is a German company that specializes in catching expired domains.
From freshdomains.de (translated to English):
Through mistakes of your provider or ignorance of the actual value of a domain, hundreds of domains of all extensions expire every day. With our automated domain analysis we supply you with the best domains around the clock, even by email if you so desire. Sophisticated filters and our domain analysis help you separate the chaff from the wheat. A special benefit is our automated domain registration: Register the desired domain name and as soon as it becomes available, we register it automatically for you. Protect your own domains from the mistakes of others. Convince yourselves of the quality of our services!
And who wouldn't be convinced, now that you got google.de?
The whois data for google.com is also showing some pretty strange data.
However, (thanks to dustin), there is no need for concern. The whois.net tool, just like many other whois tools, simply displays all domains and subdomains that contain "google.com", but most of them have nothing to do with the real Google. For comparison, here's what whois.net displays for microsoft.com.
Update: google.de is back under Google's control
I think your search was too broad. Most of those names aren't actually owned or operated by the Google we know. You could just as easily add your own http://WWW.GOOGLE.IS.OWNED.BY.DAILYDOMAINER.COM to the list…
Thanks for clearing that up!
While it may be true, this story doesn't sound right to me…?
It sounds like the domain expired and was then picked up by the drop catcher. But don't all the registrars have to provide a 30 day "grace" period during which the owner and re-register it? I think it is then another 30 days before the domain is released to be registered again?
It seems unlikely that Google.de would be off-line for 60 days and someone just happened to notice it when it was picked up by someone else…? Perhaps Google is not used much (At all) in Germany…?
Now, if the REGISTRAR had not deactivated the domain when it expired, and then continued to allow it to display the correct site until the domain had officially "dropped", and registered it for themselves or another party, then that is a HUGE problem that should be investigated…!
[...] Como comentan en dailydomainer.com, durante ese tiempo el dueño del dominio era un tal 'Martin', residente en la ciudad alemana de Wiesbaden, como se puede observar en esta captura de 'DeNIC', el organismo que gestiona los dominios en Alemania. El dueño legal, tal y como se muestra en estos momentos (ver captura) debe ser 'Google Inc.'. [...]
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