[gnso-pednr-dt] FW: another real-world example of PEDNR problems

[Marika Konings <marika.konings@xxxxxxxxx>]

Forwarded on behalf of Jeff Eckhaus

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Eckhaus 
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 8:19 AM
To: PEDNR
Subject: another real-world example of PEDNR problems

Resending

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Eckhaus 
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 4:37 PM
To: 'Mike O'Connor'; PEDNR
Subject: RE: [gnso-pednr-dt] another real-world example of PEDNR problems

Mikey - first off, thanks for another entertaining story. I really do like
hearing these. 

Rather than discuss the issues in the story (16 years of not noticing the
whois???) I would like to ask the group - does this story show that the
current system and procedures work or not? My answer is yes!

This group is focused on Post Expiration Domain Name Recovery, and in this
case, the domain expired and guess what, the registrant was able to recover
their domain name. Success.

I do like hearing these anecdotes and while entertaining I would like to
move on from this Working Group and to other issues. Can we discuss what the
next steps are and where we go from here? I am hoping this WG and PDP does
not follow so many others and live on forever.

With all that being said, there is a good chance I will miss the call this
coming Tuesday as I will be travelling but will try my best to make it.
Sorry 


Jeff







-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gnso-pednr-dt@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-pednr-dt@xxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Mike O'Connor
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 4:20 PM
To: PEDNR
Subject: [gnso-pednr-dt] another real-world example of PEDNR problems


wow.  that last thread was tasty.  thanks folks -- i think the conversation
is really useful.

OK, for today's conversation-starter here's one based on personal
experience.   i'm going to leave his name and domain-name out of this
discussion because he's a moderately well-known public figure in the US and
i want to respect his privacy, although he's given me permission to share
his name if people really REALLY want to know.   but, if you find out,
please keep his name and domain off this public list -- he's purchased the
privacy service from the registrar but it's taking a long time for it to
kick in and his contact info is out there in the breeze on WHOIS right now.

my friend registered his name (a single-word generic dot-com that would
probably fetch 4-5 figures on the aftermarket today) through his ISP in 1994
-- long before the era when WHOIS privacy services were perfected and
offered by registrars.  in an effort to protect their clients' privacy, the
ISP used their own hostmaster email account for all the contacts and used
the generic word as the contact name (rather than my friend's real name).
so the whois data looked kinda like this;

Registrant:
GenericName
ISP Address
Big City, Zip
US

Domain Name: GENERICNAME.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
GenericName  hostmaster@ISP's-domain.com
ISP's Address
Big City, Zip
US
ISP's-phone-number

all went swimmingly until this last round of renewals.  one weekend several
months ago my friend noticed that his web page and email had failed.  his
original ISP had gone out of business so, when he called his current ISP
they said "everything looks OK from here" meaning that he was paid up with
them and that *they* hadn't taken his web page and email down.  the current
ISP's weekend support person didn't think to look at the WHOIS entry for the
domain.  

after some head scratching, my friend called the registrar (again, during
the weekend) and explained the situation.  the registrar customer-support
rep explained that his domain had expired and entered the ARGP -- and that
because his name didn't appear in the WHOIS record, there was nothing the
rep could do about providing access to the account controlling the name.
the rep was very sympathetic though and offered a 2-week temporary extension
of pointing the domain back at my friend's web and email servers to provide
a little time to sort things out.  soon thereafter, web and email started
working again.

the following Monday my friend called the registrar again and began the
process of trying to validate his identity in order to gain access to the
account that controlled the domain.  unfortunately, this proved to be
impossible since his name didn't appear anywhere in the records for the
domain and the ISP who had acted on his behalf was out of business.  the rep
at the registrar was sympathetic but unable to offer a solution, even after
my friend had faxed various forms of documentation linking himself with the
name.

at this point, many registrants would have been out of options.  the domain
would have gone into auction and probably fetched a handsome price given
that it's a one-word dot-com generic that has a fair amount of traffic.
fortunately, my friend knew that i was interested in domain names and called
me.  even more fortunately i knew somebody at the registrar who was in a
position to help escalate this situation and resolve the problem.

i am happy to report that my friend was able to hang on to his domain, and
that i have been amply rewarded for my efforts with a delicious box of
chocolates.  but i offer this as a real-life situation in which the
registrant, a sole-proprietor, would have lost his domain were it not for
extraordinary good luck.

mikey


- - - - - - - - -
phone  651-647-6109
fax    866-280-2356
web  www.haven2.com
handle OConnorStP (ID for public places like Twitter, Facebook, Google,
etc.)



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