Chinese registrars back in trouble after porn UDRP suspension
A collection of six registrars in the XZ.com stable are back on the ICANN naughty step, facing more Compliance action just a couple of years after a sister company was suspended over UDRP failures.
ICANN has published breach notices against DotMedia and five other registrars under common ownership, claiming that they are failing to send their registration data to the correct escrow provider.
Since last year, registrars have been obliged to escrow their data to DENIC, which replaced NCC Group as ICANN’s sole provider. Escrow is important as it helps make sure registrants keep their domains if a registrar goes out of business.
The six DotMedia registrars have failed to make this transition despite months of hand-holding from ICANN, according to the breach notices. Compliance has been on their case since at least April.
The registrars are among 20 that appear to be under common management, almost all based in Hong Kong and using xz.com as their primary storefront, and it’s not clear why only six accreditations have been found in breach.
The whole group appears to be on the skids in terms of registration volume. The main accreditation, US-registered MAFF Inc, once had around 600,000 gTLD names under management, but that’s down to around 60,000 in the latest registry reports. The others have a few thousand each, having suffered similar percentage declines.
Another member of the group, ThreadAgent.com, was actually suspended for months in 2022 after it failed to transfer two domains lost in cybersquatting complaints under the UDRP to BMW and Lockheed Martin.
The six registrars have until September 25 to come back in compliance or face further action.
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