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I quickly composed a letter and emailed it to that registrar expressing my thoughts. I also raised price of domain name once I had sent email. Because I was upset about matter I decided to raise selling price by a factor of ten. I never received a response from my email and assumed matter was closed.
Well, to make a long story short I received three more emails within next three weeks, each with attempts to get me to transfer my domain name to them. The emails included dubious documentation and said “You must agree to enter into a new Registration Agreement with us”. I ignored all attempts to sign away my domain name to other registrar.
The last four attempts to get me to surrender my domain name all occurred just after ICANN changed rules pertaining to domain names. That new ruling took affect November 12, 2004 making it easier (in my opinion) for someone to sneakily transfer a domain name. With current new rules it seems all you have to do is not respond to your registrar within five days of them sending you notice indicating your domain name is being transferred. If you happen to be on vacation, not respond to your email quickly, or overlook such email, you may find yourself short a domain name. If however, your domain name(s) is locked, then you shouldn’t have to worry about that problem. My impression is that many registrars are now locking domain names by default so they cannot be transferred automatically, but you should check yours to be sure.
All this fuss over a domain name I made up got me thinking about my rights to my domain name. I checked Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, signed by President Clinton, November 29, 1999. I’m no lawyer, but it does not look favorable for me, even though I made up a name I did not think anyone else had. I’ll let you reader check law and come to your own conclusion.
There has been no further action on that domain name and it has been two and a half months since last attempt to transfer it away from me. Is this end of that saga?
* I’ve left out first few characters for my protection. Contact me if you must know exact name.
Charles is a programmer - developer turned web entrepreneur. He has written software for many major U.S. Corporations as well as written and sold his own software. He is currently developing a website for his many domain names and another on top-rated eZines. Charles lives near San Diego, CA and operates www.LowCostMagazine.com. He can be reached via the contact form at www.z-cashflow.com.