VeriSign, which provides trusted infrastructure services for web
sites including domain registration services, has brought its
concerns over unauthorised domain registration transfers to the
attention of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN). In a letter written last week, VeriSign called on
ICANN to take a lead in the effort to combat “slamming” practices,
as the unauthorised transfers are known in the telecommunications
industry.
The request followed a number of market research studies, which
were funded by VeriSign in an attempt to determine the extent of
the problem. Those surveys revealed that one third of domain
registration transfers from VeriSign to rival registrars that were
purportedly authorised by customers had been carried out without
any customer authorisation.
Until recently, the domain registration transfer system operated
by VeriSign allowed a transfer to take place whenever a rival
registrar submitted a claim stating that a customer had authorised
a transfer. The transfer was made free of charge and without
verification of the customer’s request. Although VeriSign has now
adopted a different transfer procedure, it argues that the new
system will only be a short-term solution to the problem and that
ICANN must ensure proper safeguards are adopted in the future.
