Not all FREE transfers under new contract

[diablo]

I'm only concerned here about Registrars - not others who may register a name on behalf of someone else. And Nominet should take a firm stance here before .uk is released.

The explicit prior consent of your customer should be compulsory - and it should include an acknowledgement by the customer that by allowing this to happen that de facto ownership may pass from the customer to the Registrar.

It should also be made retrospective - so if permission hasn't been sought in the past, the customer should be informed of the domain's status.

 

[tifosi]

I'm concerned by the woolly 30days before & 30days after expiry dates, and when exactly they can change the name to their own.

Some registrars - we'll probably be able to guess which - will use this to their extreme advantage with emails sent at the earliest date, with small print sub-clauses to say 'not renewing the domain and responding to this email is implying express consent for us to nick your domain asap' and then to change the registrant the day after expiry.

I don't want this registrant transfer at all, it goes totally against Nominet's doctrine of fcfs and their contractual obligations to the registrant - the registrar is simply a discounted middleman.

If it is going to happen then there should be tight regulation on domain tasting and an absolute block on any registrant transfer until the actual drop point.

The most suitable mechanism would be a 'reserved' option which shows up in the whois when the domain is in renewal required and/or suspended to say the registrar has expressed an interest in the domain - it's the most transparent mechanism and lord knows Nominet need some transparency. Only at cancellation - and assuming know block on release has been requested (liquidators etc) then the domain can be moved. It gives time for all alternative courses of action to be taken.

This is what I'm suggesting before the 20th Dec, plus a bit extra.

S