Domain name registrar shuts down, exposing a host of unknown problems.
It wasn’t quite RegisterFly, but the fall of domain name registrar Parava this year was a stark reminder that the domain registration business remains poorly regulated with lax compliance.
ICANN sent a breach notice to Parava on February 27th, notifying it of major infractions including not paying accreditation fees, failing to escrow whois data, and failing to take action in response to invalid whois complaints. Heck, the company’s own domain name had an incorrect whois record.
The registrar was small, managing only 36,000 domains. But it included some doozies, including Marc Ostrofsky’s MutualFunds.com.
After failing to cure the breach, ICANN terminated Parava in April. Parava stopped operating, effectively cutting domain owners off from managing their domain names — even making DNS changes.
ICANN selected Tucows as the new registrar for the domains and the domains started transitioning there in May. As soon as the transition started, registrants realized something was wrong. People who had renewed for 5 or 10 years found that their domains expired this year. It turns out Parava was taking customer payments for multi-year renewals and only renewing a year at a time.
With every hardship is a lesson. Here are six signs your domain registrar is going defunct.
Domainer says
I used Parava years ago until they gave someone one of my domain names after they received a threatening email.
Louise says
Hi, Thanx that’s interesting your previous articles linked to! DomainNameWire is a crash course in domain industry!
My understanding from speaking with a Moniker rep is, domains are only leased for one year by Verisign, never longer. Moniker only leases for five years, tops. They accept the $$, and pay Verisign annually, only if you keep your setting on “Auto Renew.” If you pay for five years, and turn off “Auto Renew,” it means you want to let the domain go at expiration!
There could be a reason you let the domain go. It could be you found the domain violates someone’s trademark and is a liability, so you let it go . . . The Moniker customer service rep – who was it? I have her name written down someplace – said switching the Auto Renew to “off” means you lost the advance payment you made about that domain.
It stands to reason if any Registrar loses its accreditation and domains are transferred in bulk, or even if domains are transferred in bulk on request, the advance payment is lost, because it’s the Registrar who effects the renewal every year in your behalf, as long as you keep the Auto Renew setting to, “on.” If you turn it to “Off” by mistake, you also lose the advance payment . . .
Therefore it’s a false security to think your domain is safe because it is paid in advance for ten years. This is entirely up to the Registrar, to keep the records straight and effect the renewal annually with Verisign!
Andrew Allemann says
Louise – registrars can pay up to 10 years at a time to the registry.
stumble says
what legal action can be taken other than charge back ?