Old-fashioned spam

The other day I got a letter from the "Domain Registry of America." It seemed like a domain name expiration notice. In fact, the letter inside was titled "Domain Name Expiration Notice." But it couldn't really be one, because I'd never heard of this company, neither of my domain names were close to expiring, and I always get those sorts of notices via e-mail.

It was actually an unsolicited offer to have my main domain, theworldofstuff.com, registered with this company the next time the registration needs to be renewed (which is not "soon," as the letter says: I renew it once a year, and it expires six months from today). First they tell you how important it is not to have your domain name expire (and it is important if you want to keep it), and then they remind you that you don't actually need to renew your domains with them. Then come the prices. Well, here's the letter, and you can read it for yourself:

You saw those prices, right? How hard did you hit the floor? US$25 for a year, $40 for 2 years, and $80 for 5 years. If you have your own domain name, you're smart enough not to fall for this. When did .com domains fall from $35/year? Five years ago? And here they are trying to make you pay $25. Well, here's how much I pay for my domain every year: something like $7.45. I don't know exactly. And DNS is $0.02/day, or $7.30/year. In the letter, DNS is included in the $25/year, but that's still a lot of money.

How could they have gotten my information to send me this marketing sludge? Well, you can look up the contact information for any domain name, and you'll probably be able to find it. I think there's a way I can have my personal information kept private from those "whois" services, but it's a convenience that costs extra.

And, in case anyone cares, Domain Registry of America's return address is:

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