Crisis at Registrar RegisterFly: company in disarray, 2 million domains at risk

[accentnepal]

[quote author=jezebel link=topic=7603.msg44701#msg44701 date=1172164440]
ICANN Accredidation: $6,500 ($2,500 application fee + $4,000 yearly)
Escort: $9,000
[/quote]
Yes, but the escort gives you something for your money.

[mandy]

In a sudden about face, ICANN has concluded that it does indeed have authority over renegade domain pusher Registerfly...

Kurt Pritz, the senior vice president of services at ICANN, has posted on the ICANN ombudsman blog a letter to Glenn Stansbury, VP of operations at Registerfly, threatening to revoke Registerfly's domain accreditation unless the company cleans up its act in the next 15 days...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/23/...editation/

ICANN notice of breach letter to RegisterFly:
http://www.icann.org/correspondence/regi...1feb07.pdf

From the letter:

B. Registerfly’s Breach of the Provisions
This portion of the notice of breach addresses Registerfly's obligations under section 4.1, under
which Registerfly agreed to abide by all Consensus Policies addressing “the transfer of
registration data upon a change in registrar sponsoring one or more Registered Names.” As part
of this obligation, Registerfly is bound to follow the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy, which
specifies, at section A.3, the obligations of a losing registrar. Under section A.3, Registerfly has
five days within which to provide requested information and assist a Registered Name Holder in
the process for transferring registrations to a different Registrar. Under section A.5, if the
transfer of a Registered Name requires additional security codes, Registerfly must provide these
“AuthInfo” codes within five days. Finally, Registerfly may not block a Registered Name
Holder’s request to transfer a locked domain name without providing an opportunity to unlock
the name. Despite these explicit obligations, Registerfly has withheld its approval or otherwise
acted to block requested transfers of Registered Names. The following are seven examples of
Registerfly’s failure to comply with its contractual obligations:

and some of the other issues:

s the
continuing issues with Registerfly. These issues included:
(1) Registerfly’ failure to renew customer names;
(2) customer service failures;
(3) customer billing errors;
(4) nonpayment of ICANN invoices; and
(5) insufficient funding of registry accounts.

[jezebel]

In a sudden about face, ICANN has concluded that it does indeed have authority over renegade domain pusher Registerfly...

They'd still be sitting on their asses if they hadn't received bad publicity.

[accentnepal]

These issues included:
.....
(4) nonpayment of ICANN invoices;

A fatal error. 

But, really, Jezebel is right - this was about to explode in their faces and cause ICANN to look terrible. Now they can say that they are on the job ----- and go back to THEIR penthouses and THEIR escorts    , without worries. 

*

*

[regic]

March 13th is the deadline.

RegisterFly issued an official statement last week:

Our intention is to keep all concerned updated with the true facts that surround this matter. It appears that the only way is for Kevin Medina to be arrested and eventually see jail time. While we know that this will not cure the damage that has been done, Glenn and I, John Naruszewicz, are seeking all that we can on behalf of our treasured and valued customers.

Many of you may or may not know that Mr. Medina fired all employees shortly before Christmas with the exception of 8 that remain in our New Jersey office.

As the new President/CEO, I, John Naruszewicz, have personally pledged all of my personal assets to make all of this happen. I've mortgaged my home, leveraged all assets, and am in the stages of securing large letters of credit to bring this company forward properly.

the full statement: http://registerflies.com/official-statem...erfly.html

ArsTecnnica has an article on RegisterFly:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070227-8933.html

[mandy]

Commentary from TheRegister.com

Although ICANN recently issued an ultimatum to Registerfly, threatening to pull its accreditation unless it resolved its myriad customer service issues within two weeks time, the fact remains that pulling the accreditation of a negligent or possibly even criminal registrar is a merely a prophylactic measure - it may prevent future harm, but does nothing to resolve the property rights of those whose internet based businesses have vanished into cyberspace.

The fact is, Registerfly is not alone, and ICANN needs to develop some kind procedural safeguards to ensure that disputed domains are not inadvertantly auctioned off to the first bidder before this happens again...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/03/...ly_domain/

[jezebel]

ICANN update:

http://www.icann.org/announcements/annou...2mar07.htm

    On 27 February 2007, ICANN sent two employees to RegisterFly offices in New Jersey to audit them and obtain the registrant information.

*  RegisterFly has not complied. On 1 March 2007 RegisterFly's lawyers forwarded a letter [PDF, 12K] to ICANN advising that refusal to comply with ICANN's request "should not be construed as my client's unwillingness to cooperate with ICANN but as evidence of their continuing efforts to service their customers."

    * In response ICANN has issued a second letter [PDF, 288K] dated 2 March 2007 setting out additional breaches of the Registrar Agreement. In that letter ICANN describes RegisterFly's statement that refusal to comply is evidence of customer service as "preposterous."

ICANN has provided notice that it will file a suit against RegisterFly in the United States District Court for the Central District of California seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring RegisterFly to turn over the data requested and to compel an emergency audit of its books and records.

    *  In addition to this legal action, ICANN today convened a telephone conference among those needed to implement a plan that will help cease unintended deletions. The participants were registries holding RegisterFly names: Afilias (.info), NeuStar (.biz), VeriSign (.com, .net), RegisterFly backend services provider Tucows and eNom (for which RegisterFly was a reseller) as well as representatives of RegisterFly.

    * The Registries involved have agreed to move any RegisterFly names in Redemption Grace Period* status into Server-Delete-Prohibited status. This will prevent them from being deleted from the registry and becoming available for re-registration by others. ICANN commends and encourages this example of cooperation to protect registrant data.

[accentnepal]

http://www.dailydomainer.com/:

Kevin Medina Regains Control of RegisterFly

In a legal decision that stunned even the lawyers for the victor, a U.S. District Court judge on Mar. 8 handed over the embattled Web registrar Registerfly.com to the executive who was running it when it began to founder....

ICANN stated on its blog that they had gained access to the majority of RegisterFly's registrant data, a potentially significant step toward the protection of registrants....

RegisterFly could lose its ICANN accreditation as early as March 14...

Paul Levins of ICANN also defended the organization against allegations that it was doing too little, too late while RegisterFly is burning down:

...We are not the Internet police. Whilst that may be an attractive idea at a time like this, it probably isn’t in anyone’s long term interests for us to be that....Blah Blah.

So the fox is back in control of the hen house.

You know I would sacrifice my three little domains if I could see a serious congressional investigation.

I know ... dream on.

inc.mobi ---> Stolen via UDRP.
ShangriLa.com ---> Stolen via UDRP.
FamilyAlbum.com  ---> Stolen by GoDaddy and resold due to inaccurate email address.
Registerfly Registrar ---> Major allegations of misconduct including theft of domains.
                                             

[mandy]

MotleyFool on RegisterFly and the domain name industry:

The domain-name registration industry is suffering a bloody blow with the recent calamity at one of its most popular registrars. Registerfly was once one of the fastest-growing discounters on the scene, amassing millions of domain registrations, until an awkward ownership struggle and a bout of sloppy customer support found countless owners watch their dot-com names expire without renewal...

Before the debacle at Registerfly, the industry was coming back into favor...

Because domain registrations are cheap -- with most discounters offering names for less than $10 a year -- this is no longer a game for corporate land grab specialists. Sure, you have companies like Marchex (Nasdaq: MCHX) with more than 200,000 monetized domains, but this is still a low-cost endeavor for pro and hobbyist alike.

The Registerfly story may still have a happy ending, but the clock on existing annual registrations keeps ticking. Whether the site cleans up its act, is sold off to a rival registrar, or finds ICANN in a more hands-on role, the industry's reputation is at stake. And consumer faith is on the line...

full article: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/20...-back.aspx

[jezebel]

Today's the day.