ICANN has terminated three registrars for failure to pay accreditation fees. The registrars– Abansys & Hostytec, S.L, NameHouse, Inc., and Gee Whiz Domains, Inc. — have been in arrears with ICANN for some time. Each owes between $7,000 to $13,500 to the organization.

According to ICANN records, none of the registrars had any domain registrations at the time of termination. So this isn’t much of a loss to anyone. The registrars have obviously been defunct for quite some time. Maybe ICANN should keep better track of its accredited registrars?

Continue reading: ICANN puts a bullet in three defunct domain registrars

As Africa continues its quest to catch up with the rest of the Internet world, a company in Ghana called Ghana Dot Com Limited, has become the third in Africa to become an accredited domain name registrar. Accreditation was awarded by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), an Internet oversight organization.

The two other African registrars are Internet Solutions of South Africa and Kheweul of Senegal. The Ghana registrar will now be authorized to register .com, .org, .net, and .info domains. The hope is that this will bring more business to Ghana and surrounding African nations. Ghana Dot Com also aims to encourage more locally-produced websites by people of the Ghana community.

“We hope that this venture will present a platform for hosting more localized content and in local languages to develop the African information resource market,” said Professor Nii Qaynor, Chairman of Ghana Dot Com.

In addition to registering domains, Ghana Dot Com will also host websites. One of their future goals is to become the registrar for country code top level domains (ccTLD) in Africa.

Source: Ghana News Agency
Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: Ghana Becomes Third African Nation to Register Domains

Many domain registrars offer a service that will automatically bill your credit card, on or near the anniversary of your domain registration, to renew your domain. Some registrars have this feature set by default, while others require you to opt-in. At any rate, the outcome is that your domain is renewed without any action on your part.

Pros:
1. You do not have to worry about forgetting to renew.
2. If you have several domains, this will save time.
3. You protect your domain from those who might want to snatch it after it expires.

Cons:
1. If you have multiple domains, it can be a large credit or debit deduction from your account that you may not want to occur automatically.
2. You may not want to renew the domain and actually forget to cancel the renewal.
3. If your only problem is forgetfulness, an auto-reminder might be sufficient.

Using auto-renewal is ultimately a preference, and it depends on your needs. If you expect one or the other, however, make sure you read the fine print when you first register your domain.

Photo Source: Flickr

Continue reading: Domain Auto-Renewal Pros and Cons

Thought you were having a bad day? Disgruntled domain owners filed class action lawsuits against Go Daddy in Arizona and Arkansas today over the PPC ads it displays on customers’ domains. These advertisements appear only when the domain is parked at Go Daddy or no name servers have been set up.

Matthew McBride, the representative of the domain owners, states that he registered four domains with the company and is upset that it placed advertisements on them without his authorisation.

Currently Go Daddy, as well as many other registers, display these PPC ads on domains without consent of the owners. Personally, I think McBride has a genuine complaint and am glad he’s raising the issue. No registrar should be able to use customer property like this for profit.

Continue reading: Go Daddy hit with class auction lawsuits over PPC ads

If you run a company and have your domain registered under the name of that company, having your Whois information public might actually do your business some good. If something ever goes wrong with your website, Internet-savvy customers will still know how to contact you.

But if you are an individual or someone running a controversial website, having your name out there for everyone to see, might make you uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Internet rules govern that the contact information on your domain be current (i.e. your present address, reachable phone number, etc.).

There are some companies, including many registrars that offer domain privacy for an additional fee. It is, however, unclear how much privacy they actually provide. Some of these companies have been known to hand over contact information of registrants with little persuasion from law enforcement or other government entities in various countries. If you absolutely need privacy and have no other options, the best thing you can do is not use your home address, phone number, or your primary email address.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Continue reading: Protecting Your Whois Information

Four registrars have come under fire from ICANN for various breaches of contact. Last week, the California agency contacted the four and told them to fix the breaches within 15 days. If the misconduct is not fixed, the registrars will face termination.

Three of the firms– Western United Domains, Inc., Mobiline USA d.b.a. DomainBonus.com, and DropNation.com– were cited for failing to escrow WHOIS data. The fourth, Alantron BLTD, has failed to make its customers’ WHOIS data public.

Let ‘em have it, ICANN. I would love to see this deadbeat registrars get the axe.

Source | Domain Name Wire

Continue reading: ICANN cites four registrars for misconduct

While the passing of the Digital Economy Bill by Parliament last week changes quite a few things, one of more important inclusions in the legislation deals with domain registrars. Among other things, the government now has the right to regulate any “UK-related” domain registrar.

Most notably, this includes Nominet, the operator of the .uk ccTLD. In the event the government concludes it is not up to snuff, authorities now have the power to replace it with a more competent registrar.

While there is currently no need for the government to act on its new powers, I think this component of the law is a great thing for website owners the public at large. Registrars need to be held more accountable for their actions.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: UK government gains power over registrars

Only a little more than week after ICANN shut down DomainCannon, the agency has de-accredited two more registrars: ISPREG LTD and SBNames Ltd. The companies lost their accreditation after failing to renew their agreement with ICANN.

Considering the firms did not renew their contracts, they were probably already failing to begin with. According to ICANN, the registrars’ domains will be transferred to a more responsible registration provider in 30 days.

Although de-accreditation has no real effect on domain owners once names are transferred, it is still a good idea to research whatever registrar you decide to use. Personally, I always like to stick with a well-known company over a new start-up with no reputation.

Source | Domain News
Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Two registrars lose ICANN accreditation

If you want to stay in business as a domain registrar, owing ICANN a large sum of money is never a good idea. Neither is having an unresolvable website. New Orleans-based registrar DomainCannon made both these mistakes, however. It not only owes the agency $186,598.39 in overdue accreditation fees, but is so out of whack that its website has been down for some time.

In light of both these things, ICANN has shut down the registrar. The 11,729 domains its customers own will likely be transferred to a more responsible company. It looks as though DomainCannon will fire no more.

Source | Domain Name Wire

Continue reading: ICANN shuts down delinquent domain registrar

Depending on the extension you plan on registering, a domain can be obtained either through a registry or a registrar. The two words are very similar and it is important to know the difference between them.

For the record, a registry is the operator of a domain extension. For example, Afilias owns the rights to and runs .info. TLDs are typically operated by private companies. Government agencies sometimes handle the administration of ccTLDs, but often times outsource their operation to a firm.

A registrar, on the other hand, is an agent authorized to handle a domain registration– the middle man between you and the registrar. This is the place where you search for a domain and make payment. Many registrars are multi-million dollar companies. Some offer web hosting as well.

On some extensions, there are no registrars and all registrations are handled through the registry. Others are a mix of both. But on most, a domain must be bought through a registrar.

Continue reading: Domain name registration

Yesterday we covered reseller hosting, but you may have also noticed that there is something called a domain reseller.

Domain resellers are simply proxies to real registrars. They are not accredited by ICANN, but instead offer domains through a third party. Many small to medium-sized web hosts are domain resellers. Individuals can also resell domains, but if they don’t already have a large customer base on hand, making bank is a challenge.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with buying a name through a reseller, but you will pay a higher price. Resellers always mark prices up higher than a registrar and don’t always offer the same promotions. Buy domains directly from the registrar instead.

Photo | annaOMline

Continue reading: What is a domain reseller?

Mary Landesman, senior security researcher at ScanSafe believes that three major waves of SQL injection attacks may be linked, originating from the same attacker. Approximately 80,000 Chinese, 67,000 U.S., and 40,000 Indian websites are still infected by a botnet due to SQL injection attacks. At one point, millions of Chinese sites were compromised. Landesman says the attacks were the work of the same attacker because of similar domain name registration information and methods used.

“It’s the thread of the domain names being used,” Landesman says. Seven of these “mal-domains” — a term coined by Landesman to describe domain names used solely to build Internet infrastructure to spread malware or otherwise cause harm — were registered under the same name and address (which are clearly bogus, being not more than gibberish).

Most of the domains were registered to a major registrar, which is uncharacteristic of such attacks. Usually attackers choose lesser-known or less reputable registrars in order to slip through unnoticed. The problem is the system, Landesman says, which allows people to register domain names using completely false information with procedure for verifying identity.

Source: Network World
Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: Web Attacks May Be Linked