I just discovered that one of my domains which was registered through RegisterFly and paid up until 03/2009 has been hijacked by someone in Spain! The WHOIS shows contact details in Spain (without any active website) while my RegisterFly control panel still shows an expiry date of 2009!

What does one do now? Of course RegisterFly will not respond to any support tickets!

In light of recent circumstances, I'm sorry to say not much can be done. Lawyering
can help, but that's if there'll be anything left of Registerfly by then.

Without being able to check further, it's also hard to say what exactly happened.

You can contact Mike Zupke at ICANN'
email: transfer-questions@icann.org
He is soliciting RegFly complaints and may or not be able to resolve the issue.

http://www.registerflies.com/component/option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,71/func,view/id,1817/catid,14/

Comment by Mike Zupke
2007-03-11 02:33:29
If you are continuing to experience unlocking, auth-code, privacy service/protect-fly, or other whois problems preventing transfers, please send me an email with the following details:

1. all domain names affected;

2. your registerfly account name;

3. the email address associated with your registerfly account;

4. a brief explanation of the specific problem (in other words, say “I can’t get auth codes from the control panel,” or “I can’t unlock my domain name in the control panel,” or “I can’t log into my control panel” etc.);

5. the date when you last attempted to do the thing you can’t do.

Before you hit send, please (PLEASE) double-check to ensure that you’ve included all of the details listed above. If you don’t include the details above, we will return your email to you with a request for additional information. This will slow the handling of your complaint and also unfairly limit the availability of resources for other registrants.

Please use email address transfer-questions@icann.org . You will receive an auto-response / anti-spam verification email, so be sure you are writing from an email address you still have access to or I won’t get your message.

Techno - I did EXACTLY that following an earlier thread in this Forum. However, the transfer-question@icann.org address seems to be dead. Here is the mail error message I received a little while ago:


Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yahoo.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<transfer-question@icann.org>:
192.0.34.36 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 <transfer-question@icann.org>... User unknown
Giving up on 192.0.34.36.

In light of recent circumstances, I'm sorry to say not much can be done. Lawyering
can help, but that's if there'll be anything left of Registerfly by then.

Without being able to check further, it's also hard to say what exactly happened.


Pardon my ignorance (naivete), but isn't ICANN supposed to step in in such situations? If not, what are they there for?

So can any registrar simply sell or illegally transfer all domains it controls and then declare bankruptcy or close shop and walk away, while ICANN simply collects its fees and watches without doing anything?

Pardon my ignorance (naivete), but isn't ICANN supposed to step in in such situations? If not, what are they there for?

So can any registrar simply sell or illegally transfer all domains it controls and then declare bankruptcy or close shop and walk away, while ICANN simply collects its fees and watches without doing anything?

Yup. ICANN claims that it is not a regulator and that all customer-registrar problems are covered by contract law between the customer & registrar. If you have a problem with a registrar then it's up to you to take them to court. ICANN only stepped into the RF mess because RF was not paying their ICANN fees.

Yup. ICANN claims that it is not a regulator and that all customer-registrar problems are covered by contract law between the customer & registrar. If you have a problem with a registrar then it's up to you to take them to court. ICANN only stepped into the RF mess because RF was not paying their ICANN fees.

Wow, I am AMAZED that Uncle Sam installed ICANN in this sweet spot where they can collect all the fees but are not responsible for anything!

This is just a personal observation, but many people appear to demand ICANN be
able to do more than their contracts allow them to. Then again, many people don't
really bother to read the fine print.

Unlike, say, the Federal Trade Commission (which was formed and empowered by
law to take legal actions), ICANN wasn't created in the same manner. They don't
have any police powers granted by Congress or any other authority.

The worst ICANN can do to a registrar is to zap their accreditation. After that, they
have to sue in court to possibly force any registrar to do more.

This is a situation no one was completely prepared for, unlike Dodora (just google
for what happened to domain registrar Dodora). In their next meeting at Lisbon,
hopefully they'll be able to come up with something more realistically concrete.

Techno - I did EXACTLY that following an earlier thread in this Forum. However, the transfer-question@icann.org address seems to be dead. Here is the mail error message I received a little while ago:


Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yahoo.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<transfer-question@icann.org>:
192.0.34.36 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 <transfer-question@icann.org>... User unknown
Giving up on 192.0.34.36.

You should try again to transfer-questions@icann.org

Pardon my ignorance (naivete), but isn't ICANN supposed to step in in such situations? If not, what are they there for?IMHO, they have become a bureaucratic, political organization that exists solely to justify it's own existence and huge budget.

As far as actual accomplishments, I only see them having extravagant little meetings in exotic places all over the world discussing how they can spend their swelling budget. They have nice parties, stay in four-star hotels and eat in expensive restaurants.

If you look in the dictionary under ineffective bureaucracy, you'll see ICANN used as a perfect example.

See why one ICANN insider quit his position and thinks about this ineffective dinosaur: http://weblog.johnlevine.com/ICANN/offalac.html

I find it very interesting that so many people are upset with ICANN, when they are bound by law to only act within the confining structure of their own contracts.

ICANN is not the police.

ICANN is nothing more then a certifying body. They are like the "business bureau" for domain registration companies.

If you did business with a company that is a member of the business bureau, would you expect the business bureau to forcably take over the company's store and deliver the toy that you ordered but never arrived?

If people are so upset about the state of the domain registration industry, then they should complain to their local politicians. It is their job to know and understand what bothers their constituants, and take action as needed. Perhaps that action might be to grant police power to ICANN, or to create a new watchdog group that actually has power.

But currently, ICANN is powerless by law to do anything besides hand out and take back accredidation in their club.

...But currently, ICANN is powerless by law to do anything besides hand out and take back accredidation in their club.

Wasn't it the same people who now run ICANN who were initially responsible for drafting and adopting the constitution and bylaws of ICANN? If so, they need to be sacked for their own incompetence and the organization revamped.