At 10:47 AM 12/20/01 -0500, Chuck Hatcher wrote: >Your message didn't so much "shed light" as raise more questions: > >Does this testing occur only between day 40 and 45,
Yes. >or does it affect the >date expired domain names are released to the public? Honestly, we have no (and have never had) a "service level commitment" to releasing names beyond releasing names sometime between days 40 and 45 - it can happen at anytime in that period. This is a result of varying process running times, and other factors - always has been. The best level of precision we have ever provided is in that range, and that has not changed. >We tell our customers >exactly what will happen if they fail to renew their domain name, and if we >are giving out bad information we need to know about it. Fair. Since we started releasing names, our policy has not changed. >Does Tucows, as registrar, have a "right" to do anything with an expired >domain name other than hold it for 40 days and then release it? I have >always considered it a conflict of interest to try and catch one of my >customers' expired and dropped names for my own benefit, because I would >then have incentive to not try as hard to get owners of valuable domain >names to renew them, and my actions could be perceived as opportunistic and >despicable (of course some would say anyone who registers a dropped domain >name is despicable). > >Let's try a scenario where I, an OpenSRS reseller, do something similar: > > >From now on, when a customer fails to renew their domain name by the >expiration date, I, the reseller, will auto-renew the registration, but >change the DNS entries to point to a web page of mine, with lots of paid >advertising. (I will also change the admin contact email address and >password.) If the customer complains, I will offer to give the domain name >back to them (maybe charging a hefty "late fee" for missing the deadline). >Ignoring the negative goodwill I generate with my customers, who will >probably be moving to another registrar very quickly, have I done anything >wrong? This could be a good idea. The page could have a link that says >"This domain name is expired, to renew, click here...". What do you think? > >If the rights of "ownership" extend beyond the expiration date, then Tucows >should not be allowed to activate an expired domain name with new DNS >servers. If it does not, then a reseller should be allowed to "take over" a >domain name once it expires. Well, these are certainly good issues, and I assure you we have and are exploring them further. Couple of informal data points: - ICANN does not address this specifically in any of it's agreements - Understanding the "if they jump off a cliff argument", many other registrars (including the market leader) offer various expired name services; as ugly as it may ethically be for some people to stomach, expired name services and auctions are real - we do not have a good way of preventing resellers from assuming control of expired names if they architect their systems in certain ways, other than responding to specific complaints - don't take this to mean that we are promoting it, or would promote it, only that we are examining it - quite honestly, we would pursue and evaluate any reported case on a case by case basis at this point When we have a better idea about what our offerings will look like, we will post it here for your feedback. Regards, sA
