Counseling for the Domain Impaired
As ICANN continues to flex its muscles, combating domain tasting, silencing critics, and revoking accreditation from naughty registrars, many domain name registrars are apparently feeling a little uncomfortable about their understanding of ICANN policies. So, what is the treatment for post domain accreditation depression? Counseling is the answers, of course.
ICANN accreditation is very important both financially, due to the attached savings on wholesale domains and for the reputation of a registrar. Customers recognize the ICANN logo on a website and expect to do business with what they would consider to be legitimate firms. Without accreditation, a domain registrar could literally face extinction. Now, companies like LogicBoxes are providing consultancy services for registrars.
Instead of hiring in-house experts to page through ICANN policy and monitor compliance, registrars can outsource to companies that specialize in getting them ready for accreditation. Furthermore, their programs are designed to get registrars accredited as quickly and painlessly as possible. Never again will registrars have to suffer the loneliness and embarrassment of post accreditation depression. There is help even for the most careless of businesses.
Photo: SXC
Tag: accreditation, domains, icann, registrars
ICANN: New Policy Has Reduced Domain Tasting
In past years, if you made a mistake when registering a domain name, whether a spelling mistake or some other type of mishap, you had five days to return the domain and get a refund from your registrar. This is called the Add Grace Period. ICANN would refund the registrar the cost of the domain. Some professional domainers, however, abused the Add Grace Period.
The domainers would register a large chunk of domains, create ad websites, and then monitor them. The websites that generated more ad revenue than the cost of the domains were kept, and the ones that were not profitable were dropped, all within the 5-day period. The practice is called “domain tasting”. It is a nuisance to legitimate domain customers who want to register the domains because they are unavailable during the process.
In an effort to combat domain tasting, last year ICANN introduced new policies that included not refunding registrars the fee for registries and making it more expensive for registrars by charging them $6.75 or more. The new policies, they say, have virtually eliminated domain tasting. As for those who still make honest mistakes, ICANN makes exceptions.
Source: Computerworld
Tag: domain tasting, domainers, domains, icann, registrars, websites
Naughty registrars keep ignoring ICANN rules
ICANN has clear policies about domain name transfers. If, for example, a person’s domain has expired but it has not yet been deleted from his current registrar, he has the legitimate right to transfer that domain to another registrar at their discretion. But three major registrars, who shall remain nameless, are notorious for denying customers transfers, often citing security concerns.
ICANN has twice updated this policy to refine and issued a warning to the registrars, but they refuse to comply. If a customer has followed ICANN rules and recently updated their domain contact information, these registrars will say that the activity “looks suspicious” and deny their transfers. They claim they are protecting their clients by denying them their basic rights.
In doing so, of course, they ensure that if the clients want to renew their expired domains, they must stay with them. It is reminiscent of the dial-up wars when AOL would send out mass mailings of their free trial CDs but then make it impossibly difficult to unsubscribe from their services. Regardless of whether some illegal transfers do occur, blocking legitimate ones for the sake of security is both illegal itself and in direct violation of the standards ICANN has established.
Photo: Flickr
Tag: domain names, domains, icann, registrars, transfer