Important domain registration changes
Over the last couple of weeks you may have seen a number of communications from 123-reg and others relating to some changes that The Internet Corporation for Assigned Domains and Numbers (ICANN) has made to global domain policy. This policy change has been made to introduce an added layer of security on the internet to keep customers online. Domain Registration Changes As of 1st January 2014, ICAAN, the body responsible for overseeing the co-ordination of the global internet system incorporated changes which has seen registrars, like ourselves, having to ask customer’s to verify their WHOIS contact information for all new domain registrations, domain transfers and registrant contact modifications. It is important to state that these changes have been made by ICANN and not 123-reg and it is very important to us that you understand why this needs to be done and to show you exactly how these changes can be applied, easily and with very little time on your side. What do you need to do? ICANN has deemed this process necessary whenever a Registrant changes any of the following details: Registrant First Name Registrant Last Name Registrant Email Address The verification email is sent upon any modification of a customer’s contact details – even if it is a phone number change, if the email address associated with the domain has not been verified already. To help you better understand how this process will work: If you are the owners of example.com and you changed your phone number on 1st January (the phone number associated with the domain), you will receive a validation email. Any customer that verifies their domain name will only have to verify it again if the same customer changes their email address that is associated with their domain name. The most important thing is that your domain is not suspended so to help prevent this, we have made the process simple and extremely easy for you. If you have or will make any future changes, the following shows you exactly what will happen and what you need to do. After making changes, you will automatically receive an email from services@123-reg.co.uk Contained in this email is a link to verify-whois.com which you will need to click and verify your address. Unfortunately, if you do fail to verify this within 15 days, your domain name will be suspended by ICANN. If a domain is suspended it will be re-directed to a holding page that will give the affected customer the ability to have the verification email re-sent, thus un-suspending the domain. We advise all customer’s to verify via as soon as possible via the email link to avoid this from happening. What does a suspension mean? Suspension means that all DNS settings will not work – this includes MX records and any email address associated with the account. So if this is the case, the any affected customer should change the email address associated with the domain from the Control Panel with a new address that they have access to (not one linked to the domain) – this will trigger a verification email being sent to the new address so the customer can verify the domain and have the domain un-suspended. Please remember that if a domain is suspended it does not mean that an affected customer has lost control of this domain. However, it will remain suspended until the domain is verified through the verification email sent out by 123-reg. So what should you do now? It is critical that you do ensure that your domain name is associated with a valid email address, which is different to your domain name. The last thing we want is for you to make a change and we send the verification to an incorrect email address. Keeping these details up to date will help us to ensure the smooth running of your domain name. We are always on hand if you do get stuck, however. If you do need any help, support or guidance on any of these matters, simply get in touch and a member of the team will be happy to assist you. Just head over to https://www.123-reg.co.uk/support/
ICANN finally reveals all but what next for gTLDs?
So today, after months of build up, the odd system failure and plenty of hype, we finally learned who had applied to run their own generic top level domain and what they were after, but what does it all mean? Well, 13 June 2012 will forever be a milestone in the history of domain names and for certain the internet’s addressing system will never be the same again. Until now, whatever the prefix combination the suffix extension choice was limited to just 280 ccTLDs and more importantly a mere 22 “generics”, that is about to change wholesale. The new gTLD application window opened on 12 January 2012 and closed on 30 May 2012. ICANN received over 1,900 applications from around the world, but reveal day was just that, just revealing who had applied for a gTLD and what they had applied for, just stage one in a long process. Of note though looking at the ‘revelations’ online retail giant Amazon made 76 applications including .cloud .drive .shop .store & .mail, Microsoftmade 11 applications mainly based on their existing product names such as .hotmail .azure .bing .docs .skype .office & .xbox and Google put in a whopping 101 applications including .gmail .google .gmbh .web .shop .search & .youtube. There will certainly be a number of disappointed applicants however, as where more than one applicant is seeking the same gTLD their application fee is absorbed and they then have the ‘opportunity’ to outbid the competition for that name, set to make the application even more expensive. 13 applicants have made an application to .app, 11 each for .home and .inc, even .bog has 9 vying for it’s ownership and the far from short .restaurant has 4 applicants in the mix.Perhaps more surprisinly only one applicant has lay claim to the potentially lucrative .abc and The British Broadcasting Corporation will be expecting .bbc will be granted to them being the only applicant and also worldwide rights holder of the abbreviation. There are a number of bizarre gTLDs being sought too, especially given the price-tag for the application. .sucks and .wtf may well become the future domains for those bizarre and wonderful things that make the internet such a vibrant community, but quite how, when, why and where .dog and .duck are likely to repay their investment is probably more open to discussion. Perhaps noticeable omissions are .facebook and .twitter but that probably says more about their owners self-belief than business acumen or desires for world domination. One potential new gTLD does however remind us of what actually this was all about. .domains has just one applicant, who are probably as shocked by that as everybody else looking on. Now begins the lengthy Evaluation periods, including background screens on application, evaluation panels and a whole host of tests, hoops and requirements to met. Even if ICANN is to hit its original schedule these phases are likely to take months even years if there are objections and appeals, so in reality the great change to the internet is a long way off, but the way ICANN and its panels scrutinise the applications in this stage could have a very big impact on the future development of the internet. Too lenient and ICANN risks losing credibility, too harsh and it risks the wrath of some of the world’s most powerful businesses, who have already invested a great deal of time, effort and money in applying for a new gTLD. We will be keeping an eye on how things develop and keeping you updated but we are also interested in how you feel about the whole concept? Are you surprised at the popularity of the new gTLD procedure? Do you think it will have a massive impact on the internet of the future?