ICANN has been advised and has confirmed that RegisterFly is aware of the issues raised by many registrants, regarding their inability to transfer their registrations away from RegisterFly to another Registrar.

ICANN has demanded that RegisterFly immediately act to provide authorization codes and has also demanded a meeting with RegisterFly (and other relevant parties that are assisting ICANN) to resolve RegisterFly's reported failures. We will provide an update on the outcome of this meeting.

Some customers may be experiencing difficulties in transferring their name because they are not listed as the registrant, but instead have opted to use a privacy service. In discussions with ICANN today RegisterFly agreed to assist people in those circumstances and will provide customer data to eNom from Monday 12 March. This means that eNom should be able to facilitate transfers from RegisterFly (as reseller) to another registrar of the customer's choice.

Yesterday we advised that ICANN had obtained registrant data from RegisterFly. We are still confirming the accuracy of that data.

But it appears ICANN is in possession of the vast majority of registrant data (a potentially significant step toward the protection of registrants in the case of RegisterFly business failure or de-accreditation under the terms of the RAA).

It should be noted that a significant percentage of the data obtained are cases where customer information is hidden via a privacy service (in this case known as "ProtectFly"). We have provided additional questions to RegisterFly regarding how that data can be maintained in a manner that would permit access in the event that RegisterFly remains unable to fulfill its role as a registrar. If a name is hidden through a service of this kind, it is possible that no one aside from the provider of the privacy service can identify the customer, therefore data escrow may be insufficient for ICANN to protect that data. In making a choice to use a proxy/privacy service, customers should be aware of balancing privacy against access to data.

http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-08mar07.htm

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dsmj - FAILURE TO RENEW Registered | 2007-03-09 14:14:39 1) ICANN HAS the Registry data. - They have the ability to act 2) The 15 Day RAA compliance complaint Notice was issued on Feb 21st - that gave Regsiterfly until March 8th. 3) Today is the 9th of March and ICANN is still giving them Days. 4) ProtectFly and Expirefly ( Unified Names, owned by Kevin Medina ) are raping us of our domains when Registerfly's system accepts our money and reneweal efforts, then FAILS TO RENEW...repeatedly. EXHIBIT: http://witnessconsultants.com FAILED TO RENEW March 2,3,4th , on MARCH 5TH is was stolen in to a Unified Names EXPIREFLY WHOIS and is now a Unified names Linkfarm page and pop-under ad. THIS WAS A DAY AFTER ICANN SAID NO DOMAINS SHOULD BE ALLWED TO EXPIRE, my renewal fee paid for thier theft, it now expires 4 March 2008. They act quickly to take your renewal fee and use it to steal your name. IT IS IN PLAIN SIGHT. They renew for themselves faster than they do for thier customers. The evidence of this activity IS IN WHOIS, available to everyone including ICANN. ..anyone who is assuming there is not an angry mob out there, is simply choosing to not be aware of it. I am one of THOUSANDS of webmasters with multiple stolen and linkfarmed names. I WANT TO KNOW THAT ICANN HAS ACCESS TO A TRANSACTION AUDIT TRAIL.

cyberws Registered | 2007-03-09 16:16:42 Unfortunately the 15 days isn't up yet. If you read the ICANN letter clearly you will note its 15 working days. In fact in business contracts its very common to use working/business days and not calender days. So unfortunately this nightmare keeps on going.

cymoo - lost control Registered | 2007-03-09 20:43:30 My site text4free.info was removed from my control very much like yours. Both sites http://witnessconsultants.com and http://text4free.info/ are operating with a pop source url of http://adserving.cpxinteractive.com and a site format that is very much alike.

oshea_in_hell - When Can ICANN Act Registered | 2007-03-09 22:55:38 As cyberws noted, it is 15 business days (starting from Wed., Feb 21). That goes until March 15th. I should also note, that per the RAA, the issues noted on the 21st are actionable on the 15th (basically the Authcode issues, and non-whois LOCKED status that could not be removed). The other issue, of data escrow, was not actually required by ICANN until a later date, and for that independent actionable offense, Registerfly.com actually probably has a few more days.... I'm sure at this point, ICANN is looking to do the best thing for name holders, at the earliest legal time. However, I believe that ICANN is also realizing that shutting down Registerfly.com might in fact NOT be the best thing that they can do for name holders, since so many names are held via ProtectFly whois protection. You see, the ICANN is only afforded data escrow legal rights on the WHOIS data. If you used ProtectFly, the WHOIS data is shown as Registerfly.com (or in some cases as Kevin Medina). In either regard, Escrowing that data will not review to ICANN who the "true" owner is. Unfortunately, a careful reading of the RAA shows that ICANN does not have a CLEAR legal right to the "private, protected names and account information" of name holders who used ProtectFly. I'm sure that ICANN may argue in court that the INTENT of the escrow agreement was that such information be available to them- but the crisp legal wording, and the required SPECIFIC format of that data only covers the ACTUAL WHOIS data, so to go beyond that, they will have to argue in court, unless Registerfly.com voluntarily provides them with the data. If ICANN intends to cut Registerfly.com off at the knees and revoke accreditation, then registerfly.com has little incentive to provide them the additional information for which the contract is at best vague... and in a strict reading would convey that registerfly.com does not have to provide at all. Yes, ICANN is probably somewhat upset at its position, but that was its own doing, as it LET registrars engage in privacy/SPAM/whois protection service selling (for years now), without adequately modifying its RAA to cover name holders in the event of a registrar failure in such case. This is one of those cases where the water already traveled under the bridge.... you can't reverese time, or change the agreements in place- no matter how much they might wish it so. Because of this, I think you are going to see an interesting tap dance between ICANN and registerfly.com- since ICANN knows that they cannot compel the full customer data (underneath and behind the ProtectFly data, e.g. the private name data), and yet they know that shutting down Registerfly.com without such data is going to be worse for name holders than letting Kevin attempt to pull the plane out of the dive... So, I anticipate a tap dance. I also believe that Kevin will now attempt to fix things from Florida as quickly as possible (as I believe that they have been doing all along, just FAR, FAR, FAR too slowly compared to teh desires of his (registerfly.com's) customer base. And in fact, ICANN may pull the plug without the data, just because of the failure of the registrar to renew so many names in the last 3 months. As imperfect as things will be if they yank acreditation, they might do it anyway believing that is the best of all of the poor choices that they have....

oshea_in_hell - RE: Failure to Renew Registered | 2007-03-09 23:32:14 DSMJ, Well, ICANN hasn't let you down (well, they haven't failed to do what they said they would do anyway), they have let you down. ICANN asked (and had agreed to) that domain administrators would prevent names that have entered the DELETE stage, be instead moved to a DOMAIN-LOCKED-NO-DELETE stage. This is being done. YOUR NAME (the witnessconsultants.com) DID NOT enter the DELETE status... You see, names go from Registered, to EXPIRED-reclaimable (45 days), to DELETE. Names that would go into DELETE stage can be purchased by anyone at any registrar- and it is those names for which ICANN has provided a solution. YOUR NAME- is in EXPIRED-reclaimable. A state in which ALL OTHER registrars except the registrar of record (Unified Names, aka Registrarfly.com) CANNOT have a new owner become the new registered name holder. OTHER registrars cannot get the name.... However, Registerfly.com CAN get the name itself, since in EXPIRED-reclaimable, the Registrar of record ACTUALLY becomes the Name owner (for those 45 days). Within that time, if the registrar (the NEW name owner) pays ICANN the re-activation fee, then the REGISTRAR (not the old name holder) has legal rights on the name. The registrar can sell it to another of its customers, it can sell it back to you (reclaim fee), or it can register it to itself, and then allow that name to be transfered out to a different owner at another registrar. In fact the LEGAL status of names in the expired-but-reclaimable status is something that has been in discussion in the registrars discussion forum for apparently about the last 5 months, with active discussion just this past January (prior to the total meltdown of Registerfly.com). So- you are just as screwed as you said, and Registerfly.com is doing the screwing (by not renewing your name as you have attempted to renew it for however long), but per the definitive language in the RAA- ICANN can DO NOTHING!!!!! This is a clear gap in ICANN's RAA, and in the Consensus Policies of the registrars (which are binding per the RAA), but it is IN FACT an existing GAP for which ICANN has no present cure - so there is NOTHING they can do for you as you are being screwed by Registerfly.com in this particular case. The database administrators agreed to prevent names from entering NAME-DELETE, because in fact that status (after the 45 days is up) has CLEAR and definitive language about it NOT being owned by the registrar any longer, and so they would not be in a legal tussle with Registerfly.com over name rights. And all the registrars recognize its in THEIR interest to try and prevent all these name deletions, as the discredit that Registefly.com is bringing to the business is too some extent reflecting badly on all of them. However, good intentions usually take a hard stop at LEGAL liabilities. And the EXPIRED-reclaimable state (45 day length), has no clear contractual rights in name ownership, EXCEPT to the registrar of RECORD (in this case registerfly.com) in that period, EVEN WHEN the CAUSE of the name entering the EXPIRED state was the failure of the registrar to renew the name. A major definiciency.... I SHOULD NOTE, if you name is ABOUT to expire, but has NOT yet done SO, there appears to be ONE, and ONLY ONE remedy to the LOSS of your name (aside from actually successfully getting it renewed). AND THAT IS TO FILE SUIT IMMEDIATELY!!!! There is CLEAR language in the RAA that NO registrar may change the WHOIS information on a name, and transfer ownership interest in a name that has a legal action IN EXISTANCE for that name. e.g. You need to file suit on the name BEFORE it expires to protect it. So, if the name has great value to your enterprise, spend some money on a lawyer, and file a suit QUICKLY, very QUICKLY, BEFORE the domain registration expires. The per EACH and EVERY registrar's agreement, they are all bound to LOCK the name, and wait the result of the lawsuit. Registerfly, nor any "new" owner could transfer the name away to a different registrar. With the name "safely, ha,ha" at registerfly.com, your lawsuit can then (once you win it) compell the return of the name to you from Unified names. (And again, it cannot be transfered to anyone else if a lawsuit is file. You can send notice to ICANN once files, and they will make sure it gets the LOCKED (in lawsuit) status so reserved for that situation. Unfortunately, legal action is your ONLY recourse (an expensive recourse). Take a look on the ICANN website under the RAA agreement, and under the Consensus Transfer Policy, and you will see how this legal protection is encapsulated. ICANN can only keep the name in the same place, and FREEZE it. But since the OWNER is actually UNIFIED NAMES once the domain expires (even when that cause is UNIFIED NAMES, ICANN is idiots, and apparently they have idiots to draw up their contracts as well if they could not anticipate a "mal-intentioned registrar..." in their contract provisions, but that really appears the case in virtually all the language.... Sorry to break the bad news. In this case, you need to file your lawsuite before the "new" currently hidden name holder transfers the name out of Unified Names (registerfly.com). That way other registrars will be bound (they will be forced to lock the name), and your suit against Unified Names will be properly targeted (the name will still be registered with them, hence the suit will be aimed at the proper defendent, the one that "stole" you name, or at least the one who failed to provide the contracted services and caused you name to become expired (semantic difference). Find yourself a fast lawyer...

dsmj - thanks for the advice and info Registered | 2007-03-10 00:44:11 sorry i realize all that- i'm just frusrated they fail to do right, and do wrong with great regularity and speed.

dppy - ICANN read and learn how to pr Registered | 2007-03-20 13:57:34 If you have United Kingdom UK domain trapped by Registerfly. Nominet UK can move your UK domains to a new registrar without the help or cooperation of Registerfly or Tucows all you need is simple proof that you are the owner of the domain a utility bill addressed to registered owner at the domains registered address postal, It will costs you a fee of £10 (plus VAT) per domain name or if you need to change the registrar for a group of domain names and the registrant of all the domain names in the group is the same, you will be eligible for a discounted rate of £15 (plus VAT) to move all of the domains to a new registrar http://www.nic.uk/registrants/maintain/changeregistrar/. ICANN read and learn how to protect your domain owners from firms like Registerfly. ICANN could learn a lot from the way Nominet UK runs the UK domains data base all UK domain names and owner details are kept on central data base run by Nominet UK all domain owners are sent a letter of registration to their registered postal address with a password to login to the Nominet UK web site to edit their contact information if they change address etc. All non-trading individual can opt out of having their address published in WHOIS searches this service is free (similar to ProtectFly but not available to businesses but legitimate businesses should not need to hide behind ProtectFly). If ICANN had a similar registration system to Nominet UK for registering domain names and owners details most of the domains trapped by Registerfly could be freed by simply filling in an on line form printing it off and posting it to ICANN with simple proof of ID and a small free.

steveperez Registered | 2007-03-10 15:27:26 Since Enom now has some of the domins associated to registerfly, has anybody had success with transfering out of registerfly and into ENOM?????

ChinaJoe - re: Rf to ENOm Registered | 2007-03-10 18:34:30 steveperez wrote: Since Enom now has some of the domins associated to registerfly, has anybody had success with transfering out of registerfly and into ENOM????? Yes... immediate transfers (within 24 hours) after a simple email to elida flores with a screen shot of the RF account information and ID. If your domain has Enom as the registrar then contact enom asap and escape the fly trap.

snarfles - re: Registered | 2007-03-11 23:29:20 steveperez wrote: Since Enom now has some of the domins associated to registerfly, has anybody had success with transfering out of registerfly and into ENOM????? I had one of my 4 transfered to enom even though it still appears in Registerfly. I am transfering it now to another registrar. I might be lucky since this domain is the most important of my 4. Unfortunately the other three seem to be stuck.

sojo - STILL CAN'T CHANGE DOMAIN CON Registered | 2007-03-13 21:38:26 Quote: The failure by RegisterFly to provide Whois service effectively prohibits all registrants of .com and .net names from transferring out, so this needs to be RegisterFly’s highest priority in order to protect the interests of registrants. This must be corrected immediately. WHATEVER!!!! I'll believe it when I see it. Tried to change my domain contact (whois) info on my remaining domains and it still give me some stupid error that wont allow the changes to take affect. WELL I WOULDN'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM IF THEY LEFT THE FREAKIN INFO ALONE IN THE FIRST PLACE! Yeah i got the auth codes, but they're worthless if you can't get the email to transfer the domain out (going to support@registerfly.com - yeah, they might respond to that one). Support tickets ... unanswered after 1 1/2 month.

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