How Domain Name Registrations Work

Domain Name Registrations

Domain names are registered through a domain name ‘registrar.’ Think of them as a ‘county clerks’ office who is responsible for maintaining a record repository of ownership. However, in this case, you can have multiple registrars doing domain name registrations, but all of them have to follow the same rules and cannot allow for duplicate domain name registrations.

Domain names are never ‘locked’ into a registrar unless the domain actually expires and enters a short ‘expired’ limbo period (typically 30 days), that allows the original owner to renew the domain before the domain becomes publicly available for re-registration.

Who actually ‘owns’ a domain name?

This is tricky since the ‘owner’ in this case is the person who registers the domain name AND is listed as the actual ‘Registrant Contact’ on the domain name record. In the event that the two are different, meaning, the entity that registered the domain name is different than the registrant contact, registrars tend to give ownership to whoever has access (whoever registered the domain name).

However, from a legal standpoint, the ‘registrant contact’ is technically the actual owner of the domain name. So you’re probably wondering who then would actually ‘owns’ the domain name, and the answer is… the registrar.

The registrar technically and ultimately owns the domain name records and is required to comply with any governing laws concerning domain name records. When you register a domain name, you are essentially paying the registrar to essentially ‘claim’ your domain name, if it isn’t already registered by someone else, and keep records of ownership of the domain for a given period of time. This period of time varies based on the type of ‘top-level’ domain you choose. Top-level domains are the last part of your domain name after the ‘dot.’ For example: goRavenTech.com, the top-level domain is ‘com.’ For dot coms, the maximum registration period can be 8 years. Some top-level domains may not allow for more than 2 years registration.

What are my responsibilities as a domain owner?

Even though as I mentioned above, the registrar is technically the owner, the registrar in turn requires domain name owners to maintain accurate domain contact info. There are three types of contacts for a domain name:

Registrant:

This is technically the ‘owner’ of the domain name. The entity or person listed here is considered in a legal sense to have full claims to the domain name.

Administrative Contact:

This is the contact responsible for maintaining contact information, and ensuring that the domain name is renewed. They only ‘administer’ the domain name. Typically, RavenTech will be listed here if RavenTech registered your domain name on your behalf and is maintaining renewals.

Technical Contact:

This is the contact responsible for any technical issues and concerns related to the domain name. Typically, RavenTech will be listed here if RavenTech is managing your domain and your web services.

How RavenTech Manages your Domain Name

Unfortunately, some organizations do not follow the rules either accidentally or have some other agenda behind the way they register a domain name, but we believe in ensuring that your domain name is properly registered and that you as the owner are properly recorded. This helps ensure that if there were ever a conflict-of-interest, you as the registered domain owner would have rights to your own domain. What this means in terms of registration is that we ensure that you or your legal entity will be listed as the ‘registrant’ of your domain name.

If RavenTech originally registered your domain name on your behalf, we will continue to maintain your domain name contact information and we will ensure that your domain name never expires without your knowledge or consent.

RavenTech will automatically renew your domain name for the shortest period allowable (usually 1-year) to ensure that you never lose access to your domain name. However, the customer can request longer renewal periods if needed.

Why does anyone need to ‘manage’ my domain?

Domain name management is important for many reasons. Unfortunately, some of these reasons are due to bad actors and to avoid fraud. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an organization which effectively ‘owns’ the basis for domain name registration and publishes rules and regulations for domain names, ensures that there are good policies in place for protecting domain names. These policies help ensure that domain names are properly used, protected from hijacking (stealing someones domain name) and help prevent fraudulent behavior.

One such policy dictates that domain name contact information is correct and reviewed annually for accuracy. In fact, if contact information is determined to be inaccurate either for intentional (fraudulent) or non-intentional (negligence), the domain name can be forfeited or banned.

This helps protect users from bad actors who will register batches of domain names to create fraudulent and deceptive sites, to defraud users on the Internet. This also helps protect against users who attempt to register domain names to create road-blocks and other issues for organizations that need that domain-name.

Protecting your Information

Domain name ownership and contact information is typically public information. There are many free tools available to query a domain name registration status, which typically returns something like this:

Domain name information is publicly available information. However, due to bad actors exploiting this feature by harvesting this information, ICANN allowed registrars to provide privacy protection, sometimes at an additional cost, on the condition that the registrar themselves ensure that the contact information is provided and makes that information available when a complaint arises.