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Warning - only deal in ICANN approved domain names
In the US this week, the Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with five parties accused of selling bogus domain names.
Beginning in July last year, TLD Network Ltd., Quantum Management (GB) Ltd., Quantum Management U.S. Inc., TBS Industries Ltd. and Thomas Goolnik as an individual advertised and sold domains such as .usa, .sex, .brit and .scot, charging customers $59 annually to register the names. However, the domain names once registered, did not work.
This highlights two important lessons to consumers:
1) Beware of non ICANN approved domain suffixes - some companies continue to offer generic suffixes such as .sex, .med and .law. The problem with these suffixes is that they are not ICANN approved and will only work if the user or ISP has special software installed on their browser.
It is possible that ICANN could decide at some point to introduce official suffixes that conflict with these non-approved ones already being marketed. This would cause real problems for anyone who has been using the non-approved version.
2) Always deal with an ICANN accredited registrar - the companies involved in this scam were not accredited registrars, therefore customers can not be assured of industry regulation and names are not guaranteed to keep working if the company selling them ceases to trade.
In the US this week, the Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with five parties accused of selling bogus domain names.
Beginning in July last year, TLD Network Ltd., Quantum Management (GB) Ltd., Quantum Management U.S. Inc., TBS Industries Ltd. and Thomas Goolnik as an individual advertised and sold domains such as .usa, .sex, .brit and .scot, charging customers $59 annually to register the names. However, the domain names once registered, did not work.
This highlights two important lessons to consumers:
1) Beware of non ICANN approved domain suffixes - some companies continue to offer generic suffixes such as .sex, .med and .law. The problem with these suffixes is that they are not ICANN approved and will only work if the user or ISP has special software installed on their browser.
It is possible that ICANN could decide at some point to introduce official suffixes that conflict with these non-approved ones already being marketed. This would cause real problems for anyone who has been using the non-approved version.
2) Always deal with an ICANN accredited registrar - the companies involved in this scam were not accredited registrars, therefore customers can not be assured of industry regulation and names are not guaranteed to keep working if the company selling them ceases to trade.
