RE: [registrars] PIR's EPP DOMAIN INFO command change announcement

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Jay,


> What about the status of a domain? Should this not be 
> publically available? 

Yes.  I think it is a good idea to show status.


> Your telling me that as 
> the owner of a domain I would have to login at my registrar 
> to check the expiration date on every domain I own? 

Yes.   This is how most other forms of ecommerce is done.  Ie I don't
look up a public directory to tell me when my hosting or mobile phone
agreement is due to expire.  Normally I am notified by my provider or I
have a way of accessing the information based on some sort of
authetnication.

> That may 
> be a solution you like, by I prefer if my hosting company and 
> other technical people that service my domain have easy 
> access to this information as well. I think more domains will 
> lapse into expiration if easy access to the status and 
> expiration date are not available.

That hasn't been the experience in Australia.  On the contrary it has
substantially reduced the amount of misleading renewal notices being
sent around. Ie there has been a signfiicant benefit for registrants.   

Most ISPS etc have access to information about domain names they service
through the relevant registrar.

You are right there was an initial teething period where ISPs needed to
update their systems to use the services provided by registrars, rather
than the public WHOIS.


> 
> While we are on the road of hiding information, Why even show 
> who the current registrar is? If they are not the registrar 
> or don't have the auth-code they should just bug off. :)

Actually showing the registrars is probably the most useful piece of
information, as it allows a registrant to identify their supplier of
record (which is often confusing due to the amount of unsolicited
advertising), and allows a consumer to contact the supplier in the event
of mi-use of the domain name or inaccurate contact information.

Regards,
Bruce