123REG Taking Liberties with your .uk domain registration rights

[Nigel]

I have been gradually moving domains from 123-reg, normally near to renewal time, but still have about 35 names there.
Last week on the 13th i received 5 forwarded emails originally from nominet but forwarded from [email protected]. example below.
Dear Identity Protection Service

Congratulations!

The following .uk domain names are registered for you:

xxxxxxl.uk

Welcome to .uk

A .uk domain name tells your customers, visitors or supporters that you
believe in a safe and trusted online experience, whether you are developing a
business, running a charitable organisation or writing a blog online.

The domain name provider that manages your domain name should be your first
point of contact for any queries you may have.

Your registrar details are:

Registrar:
123-reg
www.123-reg.co.uk
0345 450 2310


Domain names registered with this provider:
xxxxxx.uk


Nominet is the internet registry for all .uk domain names and operates the
national infrastructure that helps make the UK internet work. For more
information about Nominet please visit our website at www.nominet.uk.

You now have access to an online account with Nominet that you can use to
manage some other services associated with your .uk domain names (for example
to transfer your domain name or check your registration details).

Please follow the link below to access your online account and confirm that
your contact details are correct:

https://secure.nominet.uk/auth/login.html

For online tips and advice and to discover why .uk is such a great place to
be, please visit www.agreatplacetobe.co.uk and follow us on twitter @dotuk.

Out on its own for the first time, the new .uk domain is now available to register.

This means that shorter, smarter "example.uk" domain names will be
available alongside "example.co.uk", "example.org.uk" and so on.

For more information and to check your right to register, please go to
www.dotuklaunch.co.uk

As far as i can see i cannot access them at nominet, i also cannot access the names at 123-reg. I have not been asked , by email or otherwise, if iwant to register these domains.
Images re what it says in control panel at 123-reg.
Surely as these were registered on the 13th, whether i wanted them or not, i should now be able to decide what i want to do with them.View attachment 1689 View attachment 1690

Thanks for posting this - interesting

It addresses you as Dear "Identity Protection Service" which is clearly not you

Also looking at whois for identity-protect.org it shows the Registrant as:

"Registrant Name: Identity Protection Service
Registrant Organization: Mesh Digital Limited"

so there is no mention of Identity Protect Ltd anywhere

are your domains registered in the name of Mesh Digital Limited t/as Identity Protection Service ?

 

[mibut]

Registrant:
Identity Protect Limited

Registrant type:
UK Limited Company, (Company number: 7407280)

Registrant's address:
5th Floor, The Shipping Building
Old Vinyl Factory, 252-254 Blyth Road
Hayes
Middlesex
UB3 1HA
United Kingdom

Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 28-Sep-2017

Registrar:
123-Reg Limited t/a 123-reg [Tag = 123-REG]
URL: http://www.123-reg.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 11-Oct-2017
Expiry date: 11-Oct-2019
Last updated: 11-Oct-2017

Registration status:
Registered until expiry date.

Name servers:
No name servers listed.

 

[Whois-Search]

"Registrant Name: Identity Protection Service
Registrant Organization: Mesh Digital Limited"

so there is no mention of Identity Protect Ltd anywhere

are your domains registered in the name of Mesh Digital Limited t/as Identity Protection Service ?

Mesh Digital Ltd was the limited company name of Domain Monster / Domain Box

Identity Protect Ltd was the Whois privacy service for Domain Monster / Domain Box

Domain Box was acquired by Host Europe to power all their brands including 123-reg

However since then Godaddy has acquired Host Europe and killed off Domain Monster as a brand (Mesh Digital Ltd is no longer needed).

Therefore 123-reg really need to update their systems and update their Whois privacy to the latest group / brand / entity.

 

[Nigel]

certainly looks a messy way to contact your clients - forwarding on an email from nominet addressed to "Identity Protection Services". Also strange that Nominet didn't initially send these emails to "Identity Protect Limited" if they are now shown as the registrant, Is it possible there was a mass registration in the name of "Identity Protection Services" and then the registrant details were changed over the same day to "Identity Protect Limited"?

 

[Edwin]

Thought: will all these .uk even show in the zone files if no nameservers have been specified?

 

[anthony]

I hardly thing the guy who owns porn.co.uk needed the kind assistance of Identity Protect Limited for porn.uk, but I see it's another valuable generic placed in the 'safety deposit box' 2 days ago!

 

[RobM]

in the 'fingers crossed they don't renew and we can further be sleazy and keep it' box

 

[Whois-Search]

By “adopted the same pattern” do you mean: (a) just the opt-out exercising of RoR or (b) do you also mean transferring .uk domain names registered as a result of exercising RoR to privacy service registrants that don’t use the Nominet privacy framework?

Free Parking (Dickie) said “You don’t even have to do anything as the process will be automatic“
http://blog.freeparking.com/blog/the-great-uk-domain-name-give-away/

Namesco (Kelly) said “To claim your free .uk click the pink ‘Claim now’ button and complete the order. Alternatively, don’t do anything and we’ll process the order for you in approx 2 weeks time.”
https://blog.names.co.uk/2017/09/rights-owners-can-claim-free-uk/

Perhaps you could ask your board colleagues if they have put Whois privacy on any of these names ?

I asked you many things you haven’t replied to. I’m not sure the history lessons were of any real relevance.

I answered your questions above.

Perhaps if you asked your colleagues more questions instead of us we might get some where?

Perhaps. It’s possible the former was related to another registrar "tag" and some consolidation has also been occurring as part of this. It’s possible the registrant already had domain names with attached RoR’s registered under privacy (even if he/she didnt it seems probable that there will already be many SLD’s with RoR’s registered to Identity Protect Limited and the rights will be exercised by the registrar appropriately). I am not sure it really matters though.

If a .co.uk had Whois privacy on already...

Then those details were used by Nominet to validate ownership of the right of the .uk on the same tag

See 3b. http://registrars.nominet.uk/sites/default/files/sldr_and_dq_process_maps_v2_1.pdf

Yet again proving Identity Protect Ltd had no right to exercise that .uk right

 

[Edwin]

Another question raised by all this: what happens to .uk that have been registered for free to non-UK entities? Normally they need a UK address for service, with all the flim-flam that entails.

A) Does the messy sorta-privacy setup obviate this requirement?

B) What would happen if the legitimate owner tried to take back actual ownership (as recorded at Nominet) from 123-Reg? Would the whole process fail for lack of a UK address for service?

By jumping in and registering domains without waiting for explicit permission, 123-Reg has brought this sort of problem forward 2 years and potentially forced clients to incur additional costs and hassle for something that was supposedly free.

 

[Marty McFly]

@invincible I wonder if you can tell us whether or not anyone at Nominet will receive additions to their bonuses or remuneration if the figures / volume for .uk increase?

 

[Marty McFly]

Nothing that simplistic.

So they do then!

 

[Skinner]

Have nominet actually confirmed the deadline 19th June 2019 is concrete and exactly what happens on 20th June 2019 ?

As far as I know neither is solid, so nominet could snatch them themselves and auction them, or who knows what, perhaps GoDaddy/HEG saw this coming and decided they wanted a slice of the pie first.

 

[Whois-Search]

07:59hrs on 10 June 2019 Is the deadline to exercise the ROR

http://registrars.nominet.uk/sites/default/files/final_email_copy_august_2014.pdf

 

[mibut]

Are any of the domain names that you still have with this registrar, although not the free ones that have recently been registered for you, making use of their privacy protection with Identity Protection Ltd?

No, i have never used any kind of id protection at 123-reg.
All the co.uk domains have my details available on Nominet whois

 

[Marty McFly]

@invincible Can you guarantee that Google doesn't track the whois and my names are now owned by the same company that has porn sites etc

For example my .uk is now essentially owned on the whois by the same company that operates porn sites.

Can you guarantee that Google gives the same seo weight to a name that has once been under privacy? Can you Guarantee that Google does not apply a penalty to my name now?

Can you? You make out that it's free and there is nothing to lose - really?

 

[RobM]

Much more interested to hear from (the now quiet) Mr Winslow rather than someone ineffectual and pointless.

 

[Marty McFly]

Registered to. We don’t “own” domain names. Which domain names are you referring to exactly or aren’t you going to state? ;-)

Anyone now could register any apparently undesirable domain name with registrant name and address data matching that of any domain name you were the registrant of and you wouldn’t know about it. This is one of the many reasons many registrants actually opt to use full WHOIS privacy.

WHOIS privacy is nothing new to Google. Millions of domain names use it.

Perhaps try demonstrating any damage to the registrar if you believe it occurs. Then we’ll examine the issue.

Revert back and actually read what I’ve said in respect of my personal view of the WHOIS privacy aspect of this. As you may have read it has been stated by this registrar that as soon as the domain names can be activated in their control panel it will be possible for their customers to login and change the corresponding domain name registrant data.

If you make enough fuss with their support department regarding a domain name you really need to activate sooner, they might throw you an extra special favour and resolve it for you.

Finally I’m pretty sure I know who you are by your writing style. It’s a give away. ;-)

So that's a no then, you can't guarantee it.

 

[mibut]

As you may have read it has been stated by this registrar that as soon as the domain names can be activated in their control panel it will be possible for their customers to login and change the corresponding domain name registrant data.

one would have thought that as soon as registered they would be available in the control panel.
I have no idea when the names registered will be available nor what is happening regarding the full list of names that they have said they have registered, as of now they have registered 5.
Regarding the 5 .uk registered i do not know what happens if i transfer to another registrar or sell the co.uks, will i lose the .uk.
Regarding the names so far unregistered (although 123-reg say that they have taken the precaution of registering) if i transfer/sell will i lose my rights to the .uk
Who knows. Its all very messy and a complete cock up by 123-reg.

 

[Nigel]

one would have thought that as soon as registered they would be available in the control panel.
I have no idea when the names registered will be available nor what is happening regarding the full list of names that they have said they have registered, as of now they have registered 5.
Regarding the 5 .uk registered i do not know what happens if i transfer to another registrar or sell the co.uks, will i lose the .uk.
Regarding the names so far unregistered (although 123-reg say that they have taken the precaution of registering) if i transfer/sell will i lose my rights to the .uk
Who knows. Its all very messy and a complete cock up by 123-reg.

Sounds like an incompetent act of self centredness on the part of 123reg with Nominet nodding this behaviour through. Registering and grabbing your domains and telling you you should get control sometime in November. You could have been planning a website launch or a domain sale. Come on invincible - surely you can muster some concern at this.

 

[martin-s]

@invincible - please don't try (or allow) diverting this thread. Several of us feel that 123-Reg need to respond properly to these concerns.