A 60 day lock from transferring a domain name to another ICANN accredited registrar is in place when a domain name is newly registered or transferred in from another registrar. This is a small tool that is in place to help with fraud if a domain name is stolen and transferred away.
ICANN requires domain name owners to keep whois information up to date and it is pretty common that a domain owner may have a phone number change, address change or even an email change. If you were to update any of the whois information, many domain name registrars would apply the 60 day lock on the specific domain name updated or the entire account if the changes were account wide.
If I have had a domain name in my account for several years and simply update my phone number on file, I see no reason for a 60 day registrar lock. Same thing goes for an address change. Well, ICANN agrees that an update to whois information does not meet the guidelines of a 60 day lock.
The problem, many domain registrars are still violating this ruling and prevent domain name transfers because of an update to whois. This is one of those things that is good and bad all at the same time. If somebody other than you changed whois details, you would be happy with the 60 day lock as it would prevent a transfer if somebody attempted to steal the domain. On the flip side, if you update whois and wish to transfer the domain name for whatever reason, and it is blocked because you updated your phone number, it becomes a pain in the ass.
In the past, Network Solutions prevented a transfer of mine because of an update I did to whois. This weekend, Godaddy is doing the same thing to me!
It was thought that around September of 2008 that Godaddy had changed the 60 day lock rule for updating whois information and was allowing a transfer if the whois data was update but clearly dated below and right at Godaddy.com they state otherwise:
You can see the information was updated July 9, 2009. (link to screen shot page above) The problem for Godaddy, ICANN has an advisory in place to prevent this lock but Godaddy is still doing it! Organization field or not, the domain owner has ever right to put what they wish in for the "Organization Field". I changed mine to DotWeekly.com and is likely the reason Godaddy locked my domain.
ICANN has an advisory concerning the inter-registrar transfer policy date April 3, 2008 which states : A registrant change to Whois information is not a valid basis for denying a transfer request.
Name, Organization, Mailing Address, Email Address, Phone and Fax are all whois information!
As far as I can tell, Godaddy is still using the standard registrar transfer denied email they have for years, which states a generic rule why the transfer was denied. The Godaddy denial email is as follows:
Dear Jamie Zoch,
The transfer of DomainHere.com (domain removed) from GoDaddy.com, Inc. to another registrar could not be completed for the following reason(s):
Express written objection to the transfer from the Transfer Contact. (e.g. – email, fax, paper document or other processes by which the Transfer Contact has expressly and voluntarily objected through opt-in means).
The express written objection may be the result of a pending or recently completed Change of Registered Name Holder. This is an opt-in process during which the new Registered Name Holder agrees not to transfer for 60-days. This domain will be transferrable on 5/24/2010.
If you believe that this domain name does not fit the situation described above, go to http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/support.asp?prog_id=GoDaddy&isc=gdbb35 for assistance.
Regards,
Domain Services
GoDaddy.com, Inc.
The express written objection section is the BS line they are using for blocking the transfer due to a whois information update.
So how do you take care of this problem? It is important to let ICANN know that Godaddy is still preventing domain name transfers because of a whois information update. I have in the past sent the following email to Network Solutions and you can do the same thing for Godaddy.
Email Address: transfers@godaddy.com
CC: registrar-info@icann.org
The email address to use for Network Solutions is registrar@networksolutions.com
You will be contacted by a rep within about 24 hours or less and the domain name should be unlocked. Now if the domain name is in the 60 day lock period because of it being a new registration or you had transferred the domain name in the past 60 days, clearly the lock is correct. Once the lock is removed, you will likely have to restart the transfer at the receiving domain name registrar.
One thing I do not agree with the 60 day lock and change of whois contact details is the email address. If the email address for whois is changed, that should lock the domain name for 60 days and the domain should not be able to transfer. According to the ICANN advisory, it is not clearly stated that if the whois email address is updated (changed), this would lock the domain. It should lock the domain, because that is often what is changed when a domain name is stolen.
In the end, the transfer denied becomes more of a pain in the ass than anything. You will likely get the domain unlocked by sending the above email but really this process should not have to happen when you simply update whois information other than the email address (IMO) when your domain is in good standings otherwise. This tactic is often used to retain domain names so the current registrar continues to profit from the domain name renewals and other services.
Pain in the ass, sure. But rather be safe then sorry. I have seen and heard one too many domain hijackings these days that make me worried security from within the registrars.
April 12th, 2010