- Moderator's Note: Although OT, I think this post will help some poor *
- sod to avoid the same mistake my sisters made when they lost the *
- domain name for their business. Followups have been set to *
- net.internet.dns.policy, which is a better place for this thread. *
Public Interest Registry is the current holder of root DNS of .org .
An organization I am associated with lost control of its domain name. godaddy.com has a backorder process that monitors changes in domain status to put in bids immediately upon a domain becoming available for registration by anyone. I am using this process to reclaim the domain.
Domain names must be renewed in advance by the registrant. When that doesn't happen, the name is renewed for a year by the root registry. The old registrar retains control of the domain for 45 days (or shorter, but they all sit on it for the maximum period) waiting for the old registrant to renew it. If the old registrant has not renewed it, there is a 30 day redemption grace period during which the old registrant still has an opportunity to renew the domain through the old registrar.
If the old registrant still hasn't renewed the domain, it goes into redemption hold period for five days, and then is released. The old registrant cannot renew the domain during RHP.
I knew that today was the 75th day since the domain's registration expired, so I was expected to note that it was now in RHP status. I didn't get an automated message from godaddy.com and the log of status message changes had not been updated.
Registrars rely upon the whois server maintained by PIR for notice of status changes. When I checked PIR's whois server myself, I found that the domain is in RHP but the date stamp was October 17. I brought this to godaddy's attention, concerned that godaddy.com won't put the bid in at the correct time and I'll miss the opportunity to reclaim the name on the off chance that someone else awaits it.
Alas, godaddy.com said they would not send a query to PIR. I contacted PIR. I was surprised that someone took my call. However, she said PIR relies on the old registrar to report status changes on a timely basis and the PIR cannot correct false information. She invited me to use ICANN's dispute resolution process.
Finally, I contacted the old registrar and found someone who would write up notes and pass it along to the person in charge of domains, so we'll see if the status's date stamp gets corrected.
Given the political pitfalls and potential for favoritism in registering domain names, it's very curious indeed one of the root registries lacks basic safeguards against receiving status changes with a false date stamp. Should a date stamp 31 days in the past cause the submission to be rejected and sent back to the registrar?
I assume this was a glitch that will be corrected now that I've brought it to the registrar's attention. Nevertheless, if someone was trying to gain unfair advantage in order to obtain a domain name with potentially significant commercial value, with no safeguards to check on date stamps, this might be an invitation to cause trouble.