As previously reported, the Eth.link domain name was auctioned off for $852,000 after its registrant Virgil Griffith failed to renew his registration. The reason was quite valid: the registrant is serving a prison sentence. Now he and the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) DAO, of which he is one of the founders, are trying to get the auction results cancelled, arguing that the registrar company should have allowed Griffith's representatives to renew the registration.
This situation caused a spirited debate in the domain community. Industry professionals are actively debating whether anyone other than the registrants themselves should be allowed to renew registrations. The next publication of the Domain Name Wire was devoted to this issue by its creator Andrew Allemann, who, by the way, was awarded a special award at the recent NamesCon conference for his contribution to the development of the domain industry. Elleman notes that precedents of this kind exist: for example, the registrar company Hover (a brand owned by Tucows) has introduced the possibility of renewing domain registrations by others on behalf of the registrant since 2010. The company noted that a third of all calls to the support service were related to renewal issues, and a significant part of them contained requests to renew the registration of another person.
However, GoDaddy, where the Eth.link domain was registered, does not have such an opportunity, just as many other large companies do not have it. The main reason, according to Andrew Elleman, is that such a practice can give rise to legal difficulties. If a domain that was renewed on behalf of a registrant by someone else is found to be engaging in illegal activity, its original registrant may claim that the renewal was done without their knowledge. This will make it extremely difficult to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the issue needs to be resolved, and Elliman appeals to representatives of registrar companies to take an active part in the discussion.
