Verisign / Jamba Connection

[J S <icanndotnet@xxxxxxxxx>]

To be honest I haven't spent a significant amount of
time going through the proposals to operate the .NET
TLD.

But I would like to point out a major issue I have
with awarding the contract to Verisign.

Verisign recently purchased a company called Jamba,
which markets ringtones across Europe (and now the
US). Jamaba, under the Jamster brand, advertises
incessantly on television. The company has even
recently started buying "pop-under" ads on the
Internet.

Jamba--to say the least!--is extraordinarily
aggressive in its billing practices. When a user sees
a Jamba ad on TV, it looks as if that user is being
asked to buy a specific tone or specific image. If the
user text messages the short code given in the ad, the
user is automatically signed up for a monthly (or
sometimes weekly) subscription to buy a specific
number of tones. In some European countries, where
many phones are pre-paid, Jamba will even charge users
for those subscriptions when the pre-paid numbers have
no credit balances!!! As soon as the user re-buys time
on his pre-paid card, Jamba will immediately charge
him for all missed months of his subscription--which
most of the time the user doesn't even know about!

In the US, the new pop-under ads advertise that you
receive a "FREE" ringtone! But really, if you type in
your cell phone number, you are automatically charged
$5.99 per month.

I do not want a company that uses such ridiculous (and
borderline fraudulent) marketing tactics to operate an
important Internet TLD.

Thanks. I have kept this anonymous for obvious reasons.


                
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