Important Changes to the Domain Registration Process

As of January 1, 2014 when you register a new domain name, ICANN requires that you verify the contact information you provide when you register that domain.  That means that your domain registrar will send you an email verification request after you register your name.  You’ll have 15 days to respond to that request.  If you fail to respond, your new domain name registration may be suspended or terminated and your domain name will stop working.

Why the change?  Primarily to combat the proliferation of domains registered for the sole purpose of sending spam or engaging in other miscreant behavior online.  We’ve all gotten spam from addresses like “james@conjugatedscuba.com”.  ICANN is attempting to cut down on this by making domain registrants at least use real email addresses when registering names.  Will it solve the problem?  Of course not, but it may at least cut down on the annoyance.

This verification process also kicks in when you make a change to a domain registered prior to January 1 2014 too.  So, if you want to update the contact information for your 12 year old domain name, you’ll need to verify that the contact information is valid by responding to a verification request.

For legitimate Internet users and businesses this really isn’t a major issue.  Just respond to the verification emails and you’re good to go.  We just want our customers to be aware of this new process so that verification messages are not ignored as bogus, which can lead to problems.

As always, if you’re unsure of how this will impact you or if you have any questions at all, please let us know.  We’re happy to clear things up for you any way we can.