They still didn’t fix the issue, I cannot remove the ‘protectfly’ to transfer my domain. Off topic, they still claim to be ICANN accredited in the message signature.

But the real issue with I have with ICANN is the domains people lost already. we have no rights to domains we faithfully renewed but lost. I have the Credit card and Registerfly info that I paid to renew my domains. But yet I lost them and one was registered already. I understand ICANN and the others didn’t get paid for this domain. But why should I get punished?? I renewed in good faith but still lost the domain I’ve had since 2000. Some system should be setup for us to get our domains back fairly, without paying an arm and a leg for them.

For the domains in the “the registries to agree not to delete domains from RegisterFly that had expired so they can be recovered at a later date” status..
ENOM wants me to pay $120.00 to get it out! But, yet I paid Registerfly the renewal fee and was listed as renewed for a year on whois, but when it was transfered to ENOM I was told it wsn’t renewed. Come on.. $120.00 is outrageous. Talk about taking advantage of the situation. When you complain they drop it to $80.00.

I just feel ICANN hasn’t done a damn thing to help us. For me the situation just seems to get worse.

Registerfly provided me with codes to transfer most of my domains in previous weeks but, why these got unanswered?

Coincidentially because I requested the code the day in which ICANN entered in, day when my transfers in progress also slowed down in comparison with previous weeks in which the whole process was completed in two days, with ICANN is now taken over 6 :@

This is the situation:

RegisterFly has not been renewing people’s domain names. It has also not been allowing full access to many of those domains either, so many people – yourself included – have not been able to move the domain elsewhere to get it renewed.

ICANN has been months trying to sort this situation out. One of the most important things put in place was getting the registries to agree not to delete domains from RegisterFly that had expired so they can be recovered at a later date.

Eventually, we sued RegisterFly and obtained an injunction against the company making it hand over all its domain information, among other things. RegisterFly failed to act on that, so ICANN requested, and was granted by the judge on Thursday, the right to end RegisterFly’s accreditation so that ICANN can start making those transfers happen without RegisterFly needing to be involved.

(RegisterFly is contesting through a different process whether ICANN can end its accreditation.)

So what ICANN is doing now is running a fast tender system to get an existing and trustworthy registrar to take on the specialist job of connecting people with their domains again, annd allowing them to renew them with a new company (i.e. not RegisterFly).

We believe this is the best solution to the problem. It may not be as fast as some people want but it will be as fast as we can make it while remaining effective and accurate.

So in answer to your question, what can you do? Keep checking back to this blog, or review the page we have where we update what is going on with the RegisterFly case (http://public.icann.org/issues/registerfly/review). You should receive an email from the company that will help you move your domain as soon as it is up and running. We don’t have an exact date for when that will happen, all we can say at this stage is that we will make it happen as fast as we can.

Hopes this helps.

Kieren McCarthy
General manager of public participation, ICANN

What does this mean: “CANN is immediately inviting statements of interest from accredited registrars starting Monday, 30 April 2007, to act as a transfer provider, so domain name registrants can gain full access to their domains.”

What do I do on Monday? How does the fact that my domain has actually expired effect me?

Thanks for any information.

Andrew

PS registerfly has not posted this “NOTICE TO CONSUMERS: THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS, THE NOT-FOR-PROFIT ENTITY THAT ADMINSTERS THE INTERNET’S DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM, HAS ISSUED A NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF THIS COMPANY’S ACCREDITATION TO SERVE AS AN INTERNET DOMAIN REGISTRAR. PLEASE SEE http://www.icann.org FOR FUTHER INFORMATION.” on their webpage yet.

Because of this I lost 2 domains that I paid for renewal.

Now what do I do??

Believe it or not, ICANN is doing both. There is alot of work going on behind the scenes to produce the path out of this. We recognise how frustrating this must be for RegisterFly customers but we can’t announce something until it’s in place because small details change all the time.

There should be a statement on this very soon.

On the other side, there are the changes to the system that need to be made to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Again, we can’t post everything that people are coming up with because it would create havoc, but ICANN is most certainly reviewing the suggestions that people are making on this blog, and on the public participation site, and in emails to ICANN staff.

It’s just a shame that those suggestions – many of which are good – come with such an aggressive voice.

Kieren

The reason that we’re frustrated is that ICANN has made no public statement on the issue for 10 days. Surely, you can at least advise if arbitration is soon to be completed and if you have obtained any data from RegisterFly.

I find it absolutely astonishing that there is no mechanism available to renew a domain name where the Registrant wishes to renew, is happy to pay for it, but the Registrar’s systems have failed. What if this happened to icann.org? I’m sure there would be a solution then.

Why is there no facility for a manual override at Verisign?

ICANN does not agree with RegisterFly’s approach. ICANN does not like RegisterFly actions. ICANN is suing RegisterFly.

ICANN is also reviewing the system that allowed this highly unusual situation to have the impact it has had. That system will be changed. This situation will not reoccur.

You don’t find it amusing, we don’t find it amusing. But what is particularly frustrating is when people vent their frustration in random, conspiratorial and wholly inaccurate rants on a blog where we are seeking to provide people with as much accurate information as we can.

Please desist from making wild and unfounded allegations because it helps no one at all.

Kieren

Rather than completely put your faith on an organization that’s doing what they can under the circumstances, perhaps some of you ought to explore the very same options they’re looking into. Namely, tap local government agencies handling consumer complaints (e.g. FTC), and provide as much detailed information as possible.

I won’t be surprised if some of them are already looking into it. But they need more concerted data and effort, and a little more time to resolve things without unnecessarily creating any opportunity for mistakes to be exploited.

Sure, it’s only prudent for ICANN to follow the law. However, it seems that even while following all the laws, ICANN could do more than it currently does.

Let me give you an example: the expiring domain names. Obviously, if RegisterFly fails to fund the registries, it loses any right to the domain names that it allows to expire through its own inaction. Right now, those domains are not dropped, but are left in a limbo state. Some registries allow them to continue to function, other put them in a semi-permanent redemption. Anyway, ask yourself the following question: who is now legally in charge of those domains? Surely not RegisterFly, as, as I said above, it allowed them through its own inaction to get to a point where the registries have the right to drop them. So, if RegisterFly has lost legal control over those expired names, why doesn’t ICANN transfer them to another registrar and allow the rightful registrants to regain full control over them? I asked ICANN this question, and their response could be summarized as “Interesting idea.” Unsurprisingly, nothing has happened. I guess they decided it was “too much work.”

Well, you can’t have it both ways: either you do everything that’s possible, or you don’t. ICANN says the former, but does the latter.