When someone attempts to log in to an account at Name.com with an incorrect password, the email address associated with the login ID receives a failed login notification. This can inform the account holder that someone is trying to access an account without permission, which is useful. Taking it a step further, Name.com also allows users see the most recent login attempts (failed and successful). I think all registrars should offer this feature.
I won NHMA.com on NameJet in August of last year, and the domain name was provisioned to my Network Solutions account. In December of 2018, I transferred NHMA.com to my GoDaddy account, where I consolidate many of my domain names.
Since transferring the domain name in December, I have received a variety of email notifications from Network Solutions all trying to get me to renew NHMA.com. I have received emails with subjects like “Deactivation Notice,” “Renew Early and Save,” and “Final Renewal Notice.” Each email has different language and graphics, but ultimately, they all want me to renew this domain name and others. I counted 15 of these emails since the beginning of 2019.
The Gab.com domain name is on the move again. The domain name transferred to Epik earlier today after being registered at Uniregistry for a very brief period of time. This comes on the heels of GoDaddy’s ultimatum that the domain name be transferred away from GoDaddy or face suspension.
Andrew Allemann reported that Gab.com is registered to Escrow.com’s holding account after selling on Flippa for $220,000 in September. Andrew speculated that this could mean the domain name was purchased using some sort of payment plan. Escrow.com does not comment about private transactions though, so the ownership information as it relates to the Gab.com domain name is a bit unclear.
There is quite a long thread on NamePros about Gab and the issues involving the Gab.com domain name. In a series of posts within the thread, Epik CEO Rob Monster seemingly invited Gab to transfer Gab.com to Epik and offered his thoughts on the topic.
I reached out to Rob to ask him why and he did this and whether he got in touch with Andrew Torba, the founder of Gab.
I received a note from Epik CEO Rob Monster, who announced that Epik is now allowing its customers to effectively register some of their domain names at Epik forever. Rob’s email included a link to a press release published by Epik during the ICANN meeting in Barcelona. According to the press release, “Epik is the first ICANN-accredited registrar to offer the perpetual registration.”
Here’s a short excerpt from the press release:
“Forever domain registrations provide individuals and businesses with peace of mind. Once a Forever registration is secured, the future risk of domain loss due to administrative oversight or lack of funds is eliminated. While domain owners are still subject to legal use, domains can now become an enduring part of a will or estate, with continued managed registration compliance, even after the death of the original registrant. A Forever domain registration, which can be optionally combined with a Forever hosting plan, offers not only peace of mind, but also allows registrants to preserve their digital legacy, and on their terms.”
The cost of a .com “forever registration” at Epik runs $420. If a person were paying $10/year all-in to renew their .com domain name, that upfront cost would be 42 years worth of renewals (assuming the price stays the same over that time period).
The concept is certainly interesting. It would effectively reduce the concerns a domain owner may have over what happens to their domain names if they die. In theory,
I received an email from Network Solutions last week to remind me about renewing a domain name. They even offered me a special discount code for renewing this domain name, which I previously won on NameJet:
The only problem with this email is that the domain name was transferred to GoDaddy back in March. A Whois search confirms that the domain name is no longer registered at Network Solutions.
It would appear that the UsedAgain.com record in my Network Solutions account is known as a “ghost record.” This means that it would appear to exist within my Network Solutions account, but it is really at GoDaddy. I would not be able to modify nameservers, set up forwarding, or do anything else with the domain name from within Network Solutions.
The big question I have is whether
GDPR went into effect last week. Even though GDPR is a European Union data protection and privacy regulation that does not cover Americans or other people who are not EU citizens, some domain registrars totally eliminated public Whois lookup information to ensure they do not violate GDPR regulations and potentially expose themselves to serious penalties.
I have found that some domain name registrars have not eliminated public Whois lookups and Whois information, and I want to share what I found with you. This is certainly not an exhaustive list of registrars, and as far as I can tell, Whois information is only publicly available for registrants who do not have a European presence. I used a combination of registrar Whois searches, ICANN whois searches, and DomainTools Whois searches to see which registrars are blocking information and which are still showing information.
I invite you to share the name of registrars that are not using something like “Data Protected” for Whois lookups as you find them.
Registrars still showing Whois information after GDPR implementation:
