This morning I noticed that the domain name Browse.com, which is/was owned by Amazon Technologies Inc. may have sold!
The domain name showed publicly in whois data that Amazon was the owners of the domain name as of 6/02/2014 (minor dns change) and a whois record on 8/16/2014 displays:
Domain Name: browse.com
Registry Domain ID:
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Updated Date: 2014-06-03T09:40:33-0700
Creation Date: 1994-09-19T21:00:00-0700
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-04-15T20:59:59-0700
Registrar: MarkMonitor, Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 292
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.2083895740
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: DNStination, Inc
Registrant Organization: DNStination, Inc.
Registrant Street: 303 Second Street, Suite 800N
Registrant City: San Francisco
Registrant State/Province: CA
Registrant Postal Code: 94107
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.4155319335
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.4155319335
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [email protected]
It would be a little “odd” for Amazon just out of the blue to change to that whois information.
There are a couple odd things though with the domain.
- Although whois records changed, domain name servers remain the same as in the past but with minor tweaks. The domain does not resolve currently but I am not sure if it forwarded to Amazon before or not.
- The domain shows a creation date of 9/20/1994 and an expire date of 4/15/2015. Normally, the creation / expire dates are the same month.
- The whois updated to DNStination, Inc. but whois records do not show an “update”? The registrant changed and email address, but records indicate the last update was 9/19/2013.
Other Browse Domain?
Browse.org has had some recent activity as well. Original.com has been shown publicly in whois records as the owners of Browse.org since 9/2/2011. On March 24, 2014 Original.com listed Browse.org for sale at Afternic.com .
An 8/13/2014 whois record moves Browse.org to whois privacy protection with Rebel.com. Domain name servers remain the same. The domain is still listed for sale at Afternic.
Browse.biz is listed for sale and Browse.us is also listed for sale. The only TLD that didn’t appear to be listed for sale publicly is Browse.info but that domain had a update to it on 6/15/2014 and another on 8/16/2014 similar to both the .com and .org . Browse.info whois data has remained the same… but I haven’t seen this before in whois (because I never paid attention to it), but the update to whois on 8/16/2014, the Registrant ID, Admin ID, Tech ID and Billing ID all changed even though whois data looks the same as it did before.
If Browse.com did sell, and if any of the those sold as they may appear… it would be a pretty big play, with some $$$ spent. The timing to purchase all near the same time would have also been challenging but clearly could be done.
Clearly this is early on in development with this, so it’s something to keep an eye on and I wanted to be sure you were aware of it.
Perhaps Microsoft is the new owner to replace “Internet Explorer” – http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/microsoft-considered-renaming-internet-explorer-to-escape-its-checkered-past/ – stranger things have happened.