[AfrICANN-discuss] 281, 000 Domains to be Transferred from EstDomains to Directi

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

 281,000 Domains to be Transferred from EstDomains to Directi

25 November 2008

An estimated 281,000 domain names held by EstDomains will be transferred to
ICANN-accredited registrar Directi Internet Solutions following the
termination of EstDomains' registrar accreditation yesterday.

Customers of EstDomains will be contacted directly by Directi and receive
notice of the transfer plus instructions for continued management of their
names. There will be no cost to the registrants for this transfer.

EstDomains was informed on 28 October 2008 that ICANN was terminating the
company's accreditation due to its president's conviction for credit card
fraud, money laundering and document forgery. ICANN stayed that termination
following correspondence with EstDomains. However, after further
investigation, ICANN decided to go ahead with the termination, effective
yesterday, 24 November 2008.

In accordance with the De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure, ICANN
put out a request for statements of interest from registrars interested in
receiving a bulk transfer of the names formerly managed by EstDomains.

As part of that procedure, EstDomains is permitted to designate a gaining
registrar. It chose to use that option and identified ICANN-accredited
registrar Directi. ICANN reviewed that request and approved it.

Registrants with names registered through EstDomains should contact Directi
for customer service. Directi has set up a specific webpage to deal with the
transfer, available at: http://directi.com/estbulktransfer. Also below are
answers to some common questions regarding the bulk transfer.

*Related links: *

   - Contact information on the transfer from Directi:
   http://directi.com/estbulktransfer
   - ICANN decision to continue with termination of EstDomains (12 Nov):
   http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-12nov08-en.htm
   - ICANN decision to stay termination following correspondence with
   EstDomains (29 Oct):
   http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-29oct08-en.htm
   - ICANN notice of termination of EstDomains (28 Oct):
   http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-28oct08-en.htm
   - De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure:
   http://www.icann.org/en/processes/registrars/de-accredited-registrar-transition-procedure-01oct08.pdf
   - Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy:
   http://www.icann.org/en/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm

*Q&A *

Q. Why did ICANN authorize the bulk transfer?
A. EstDomains' Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) was terminated by
ICANN due to RAA compliance issues. As a result, EstDomains is no longer
permitted to register or manage gTLD registrations. In order to protect the
customers of EstDomains, ICANN initiated that De-Accredited Registrar
Transition Procedure and determined that the bulk transfer would promote the
community interest.

Q. Will Directi attempt to contact the affected registrants? What should
current/former EstDomains customers do?
A. Former customers of EstDomains should receive a notice of the transfer
and instructions for continued management of their names from Directi.
Affected customers who do not receive notices from Directi should contact
Directi directly, using the control panel provided at
http://directi.com/estbulktransfer.

Q. Do registrants have to pay a fee for the bulk transfer?
A. No, there is no cost to registrants for the bulk transfer. Unlike a
normal inter-registrar transfer, the registration terms will not be extended
by a year. Accordingly, it is important to contact Directi if your
registration will expire soon in order to maintain your registration.

Q. When will the transfer begin?
A. Today. ICANN has acted as soon as possible after the termination date and
after all the transition procedures have been followed.

Q. When will the bulk transfer take place?
A. The affected registries have already begun taking steps to effectuate the
bulk transfer. The process is expected to be complete by 1 December 2008.

Q. How will the domain registrant data be handled?
A. EstDomains will provide the full registrant details to Directi. In the
event there are any issues with the data, ICANN has a full backup of the
data through its data escrow system.

Q. What if former EstDomains customers want to use a different registrar?
A. Registrants will continue to be able to transfer their registrations to
other registrars under the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (see
http://www.icann.org/en/transfers/). Note that Directi may deny transfers
for the first 60 days following the bulk transfer, at Directi's discretion.
This 60-day period is permissible under the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy,
and is intended to help protect registrants. Names that will expire during
the first 60 days following the transfer to Directi should be renewed by the
registrant by contacting Directi using the control panel provided at
http://directi.com/estbulktransfer.

Q. How will EstDomains customers know if an email message purportedly from
Directi is legitimate?
A. For general advice about avoiding phishing email messages, you may wish
to refer to the materials prepared by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (see
http://www.antiphishing.org/consumer_recs.html). If you believe a message
purportedly from Directi is not legitimate, you should navigate to their web
page directly, at http://directi.com/estbulktransfer.
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