ICANN / VeriSign Redemption Period Farce!

When I first heard about the plans for a redemption period for
expired domain names, I thought it was a terrific idea. In the past,
too many domains have been deleted when for one reason or another,
the owners wanted to continue using them.

If you haven't yet heard about the redemption period (also known as
"grace period"), it is an extra period of up to 30 days that occurs
only when a domain registrar deletes a domain name (which normally
happens sometime in the first 45 days after a name expires without
being renewed). Instead of actually being deleted and re-available
for registration within a few days, what happens is the central
VeriSign registry holds the name in a new REDEMPTIONPERIOD status.
During this 30-day period, the original domain owner has a chance to
renew the domain name.

This extra 30-day period is of particular importance, not just
because it extends the time available to renew expired domains, but
because all names that enter the redemption period are removed from
the zone files (the list of domains currently in the global DNS).
With the previous system, some registrars removed names from the zone
files , whilst others allowed names to continue working normally
right up until the day they were deleted. So the actual deletion came
as a real shock to many domain name owners, and it was too late to do
anything about it.

With the new system, the web site and e-mail services will definitely
stop working for at least 30 days before the name is finally deleted,
so the owner can have no excuse now for not getting the name renewed.

That's the theory out of the way - it all sounds like a great way to
help clean up the domain name industry. So what is the "farce" I
refer to in the title? Unfortunately when VeriSign and ICANN get
together, they have the habit of reducing good opportunities to
improve the industry into farces. And the redemption period fiasco is
one of the most extreme examples to date.

Farcical Situation #1

A customer of Network Solutions (the registrar) whose name has
entered the redemption period just contacted me. This name is vital
to his business. In fact, he believes he will lose his job if he
cannot get the name back. So it should be a straightforward matter to
pay the renewal fee and recover the name, right? That is the whole
point of the new system after all. But no, every time he has
contacted Network Solutions (and he has spent several hours on the
phone with them) he has been told the same story - i.e. the name is
no longer recoverable and will definitely be deleted. The mind is
starting to boggle ....

Farcical Situation #2

I have also been contacted by one of my own customers whose name has
entered the redemption period. When I made enquiries with the ICANN
registrar where the name is held about getting the name back, I was
quoted a price of $200 ($85 going to VeriSign registry, the balance
going to the registrar). That was the price they were going to charge
me. Presumably I was supposed to add my own percentage on top, and
charge the customer $250 or above. The mind is really boggling now
...

Shame on the "REDEMPTION PERIOD"

So there you have it - customer #1 is told the redemption period is
not for recovering names after all and for customer #2, the name is
recoverable but is going to cost him at least $200.

So a chance to clean up the industry has been miraculously replaced
with a situation where the industry looks seedier than ever. In fact,
it will look to many customers like the new system is just an
artifice designed to screw them out of more hard-earned bucks.

Designing and implementing a fair redemption period should have been
a walk in the park. But for whatever reason, it hasn't happened. One
has to seriously wonder about the structure and integrity of an
industry where such a farce is allowed to play itself out.

By Lee Hodgson.