[Website_improve] Domain Names

[Sheila Gurr]

I received a posting from my professional organization that I feel I 
should forward to the webmasters in USPS. This concerns all squadrons 
who have their own domain names. The organization is AITP (Association 
of Information Technology Professionals.

Lt/C Sheila M. Gurr, AP, CCP
Webmaster
Fort Myers Power Squadron

AITP chapters with their own domain names for their web sites should be 
aware of a policy change just announced by ICANN.

According to a customer announcement issued by the registrar GoDaddy:

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The previous ICANN policy allowed us to deny requests to transfer your 
domain names to another registrar unless you explicitly confirmed to us 
your intent to transfer. The new ICANN policy removes that protection. 
Starting November 12, when we receive a request to transfer your domain 
name to a new registrar, we will still attempt to contact you to confirm 
that you authorized the request. However, if you do not respond, or are 
not able to respond within 5 days, your domain name WILL be transferred.

With this change in mind, we are recommending that all Go Daddy domain 
customers visit GoDaddy.com and "lock" their domain name(s). Locking 
your domain(s) is free and prevents unauthorized changes to contacts and 
name servers. Most importantly, it prevents the domain name from being 
transferred to another registrar without your knowledge. You may lock or 
unlock your domain at any time.


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What that means:

If someone tries to transfer your domain name out from under you, and 
you happen to be on vacation when they do it or for some other reason 
fail to receive their notice, you could lose ownership of your domain 
name without any easy recourse.

GoDaddy's recommendation is that you lock your domain to prevent this 
from happening.  Some registrars, like Gandi, do not offer domain 
locking. I would suggest that webmasters review which registrar they 
have their domain established with and either lock the domain or 
transfer the domain to a registrar willing to provide domain locking 
services.