The
Importance of Accurate Contact Information
At the recent board meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the
international governing body which oversees domain
name registration, Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN) adopted 'consensus
policies' regarding the accuracy of WHOIS domain
name data which could result in domain owners losing
their domains.
The WHOIS database holds registrants' details so
that a domain name owner can be traced by a range of
people, including registrars, Internet Service
Providers, intellectual property holders, law
enforcement and consumer protection agencies.
Accuracy of this data is essential to all of these
parties. To reduce the ability of cybersquatters and
people engaging in unlawful activities to avoid
detection by submitting false data, ICANN's new
policy requires that all registrants to ensure all
contact information of their domain names on WHOIS
database is correct at all time.
Many domain owners are blissfully unaware of the
extent to which their domain name data is
inaccurate, even in key respects such as email
contacts - the very addresses which the registrars
may contact under the new system to request a
confirmation of data accuracy.
If organizations fail to respond to their domain
registrar they risk their domain names being placed
'on hold' (temporarily deactivated) unless and until
they provide updated information. Ultimately, the
registrar has the contractual right to delete domain
names where no response is received. A deactivation
will result in the organization's web site becoming
unavailable and more importantly a loss of all
incoming email. A deletion means the domain name
could be re-registered by someone else on a
first-come-first-served basis.
ICANN has sought to balance such concerns by
applying the 'redemption grace period' to any domain
names deleted for inaccurate contact information.
This is some consolation to domain registrants as
there will be a period during which they can
reactivate a domain name which the registrar has
placed 'on hold', on payment of a reactivation fee.
Having said this, the possible loss of email
connectivity for any length of time, which might
result from a business failing to adopt a best
practice approach in domain name management, is a
gamble not worth taking. Furthermore, the cost to
reactivate a domain name could be as much as over
$200 per domain.
At Active-Domain, you are advised to check the
accuracy of your domain contact information
regularly and update them (especially the contact
email address) whenever necessary. Failure to do so
could result in your inability to receive our
request to verify your contact information or any
critical email notices (such as renewal notice) from
us.
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