What planet are ICANN transmitting from!
They have decided to change the policy on transfering domains ie if you are unable to respond to the transfer request and deny it withing 5 days the transfer goes ahead. What does this mean and why is it bad.
I am the sole contact for all of my domains which means if I was on holiday and someone initiates a transfer request and I don’t respond which I won’t because I am on Holiday I get back home and my domain has been given to somone else. The same thing would happen if I was in hospital. For those non techs out there the following is a good analogy.
You decide you would like to rent in London so you have a look around and get yourself a nice property and sign a contract for 2 years with a first option to extend if you want. You pay your deposit and move in. Its great people learn where you live they know where to find you and your little falt becomes prime location. Having the option to always rent this flat is also great because you want to stay.
Then one day you go on holiday and someone who wanted the flat decides to move in, under current rules they cannot. Under new rules if they knock the door and there is no reply for fives days they are able to break the lock and move in.
So when you get back someone has moved into the flat you spent so much time on and there is not a thing you could do because you didn’t answer the door.
This is absolute nonsense and I can only assume ICANN are doing it because there is some way to make some money from all the court cases which are going to appear when the fraudsters start trying to snatch domains that they shouldn’t have.
Luckily for me I use 123-reg.co.uk which posted me the following today:
Dear Customer,
On 12th November ICANN will introduce a new policy designed to make
transfers of non-UK domain names between Registrars quicker and easier.
From this date, if there is no acknowledgement from the domain
owner/admin contact within 5 days of a transfer request being made, the
transfer will automatically take place.
While a great step forward in ensuring domains can be freely
transferred by their owners, 123-Reg is concerned that this new system
could make it easier for your domain to be fraudulently transferred
away from 123-Reg. We would like to reassure you that we are taking
steps to guard against this happening to you. From the 12th, therefore,
all your non-UK domains registered with us will be automatically locked
so that only you can unlock them and initiate a transfer.
The new system will not affect your ability to manage your domain in
the usual way, and will simply mean that should you wish to change name
servers or transfer a domain away from 123-reg you will first need to
unlock it. This can be done quite simply from your 123-reg Control
Panel.
As we will be unable to accept liability if you unlock your domain and
an unauthorised transfer results, we strongly advise that you make sure
domains are kept locked at all times except when absolutely necessary
to change name servers or initiate a transfer.
Best Wishes,
The 123-Reg Team
Thankyou 123-reg for protecting me from the idiocy of ICANN which should now be named ICANN&IWILL.