ComNetOrg use the thin registry model as David says, though that is a bit misleading, it is the VeriSign registry, not internic, which is thin. Querying the VeriSign registry WHOIS (via internic or elsewhere) only gets you registrar and nameserver info. Querying the VeriSign registrar (via VeriSign's or some other's web form or port 43) WHOIS gets you the actual registrant information. That is part of why the IP folks and others (the subject of my next submission, time willing and if ICANN doesn't send over any more V2's for awhile) prefer a thick WHOIS. Beyond that, some of my tools balked at returning information or returned strange responses so there is something weird about this domain name. Note that the registration period is: Record expires on 11-Oct-2009. Record created on 11-Oct-2001. Almost a year is up. Could it be that the bill wasn't paid? Perhaps. The apparent registrant has now moved on to other things. Contact.com's IP is 209.24.201.217, it doesn't respond to an HTTP request at port 80. A contact.com HTTP archive is available here, looks like another SillyValley startup that may have since shutdown. Note also that the registry database was last updated a bit less than a month after the beginning of the registration period, so perhaps the bill wasn't paid (eg: a credit card chargeback) and VeriSign has been holding it since. They do that with an untold number of names and we'll probably see them come free once WLS becomes operational. I'm not saying that is the case here, I'm saying that might be the case. Or it might be paid up until 2009 and there's some bad data somewhere. Or it may not be paid and may soon drop, though given that it previously existed as a functioning address that gives it added value to some folks, particularily pr0n merchants, so hoarding it and selling it for more later than dropping it and selling it for less now might make more sense. VeriSign is coy and unpredictable about its practices in the areas of dropping and hoarding names. You could always try to write the registrant of record if you want that domain name or have other questions. -g
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