Registration service offers free insurance against expensive but unfounded UDRP filings.

Francois Carrillo, the guy behind Domaining.com, has launched a new domain registrar (an eNom reseller) with an innovative twist: “UDRP insurance”.

Basically, if you’re hit with a UDRP on one of your domains registered at DONA.com then you’ll get assistance with finding a domain attorney. Selected domain attorneys offer discounted rates to DONA customers. And if you successfully defend your UDRP, DONA will reimburse you for your legal expenses.

It sounds like an interesting idea that might offer some peace of mind if you frequently get hit with bogus UDRPs.

Additionally, DONA donates 30% of its profits to the Internet Commerce Association, an advocacy group for domainers.

.Com domain registrations at DONA are $11.15.

Company transfers domains between registrar accreditations.

If you start to see domain name registrar Domain.com growing in registrar ranking reports, there’s a good explanation for that.

Dotster, which owns Domain.com, has transferred the domain names from its Dotster accreditation to the Domain.com one.

I was alerted to this change when I received a DomainTools whois change alert on a friend’s domain name that I helped her register. My first thought was that her domain had been stolen, until I remembered that Dotster owns Domain.com.

I reached out to Dotster to find out what was going on. Brian Unruh, General Manager at Dotster, told Domain Name Wire:

Through acquisitions, Dotster historically has owned many registrar credentials. We consolidated them to deliver a higher quality customer experience and better efficiency. In fact this change is just one of many that we’re making to improve the services we provide our customers. While Dotster.com’s registrations are now using the Domain.com credential, Dotster customers will remain Dotster customers and continue to receive industry leading service and care.

From dessert names to rather unflattering names, here are 14 odd domain registrar names.

People get creative when coming up with domain names. Even registrars sometimes get into the act when naming their registrars.

Many registrar names are created by companies creating drop catching registrars. Since they aren’t public facing registrars, they get really creative. Here are some of the more amusing registrar names (both drop catching registrars and regular ones):

Afterdark Domains, Inc (eNom) – what is this, a registrar for porn names?

Backslap Domains, Inc. – just a really funny name for a domain registrar

BearTrapDomains.com LLC (Moniker) – I guess the visual makes sense for one of SnapNames’ domain registrars.

Betterthanaveragedomains.com LLC (Moniker) – Sell it to me!

Decentdomains, LLC (Dotster) – I’m having a tough time choosing between Better Than Average Domains and Decent Domains as my domain registrar.

Chocolatecovereddomains,LLC (Dotster) – Yeah, I’ll take a dozen.

Domainsouffle.com LLC (Moniker) – or maybe I want a souffle instead.

Dontaskwhy.ca Inc. – I won’t ask why. Forwards to NameScout.

DuckBilledDomains.com LLC (Moniker) – uh, ok.

eNom’s numbered registrars enom1008 Inc., enom1009 Inc (enom) – eNom didn’t have the all night drug induced namestorming session that SnapNames apparently had

EurotrashNames.com LLC (Moniker) – Love it!

Microbreweddomains.com LLC (Moniker) – Little know fact: name was brainstormed at a microbrewery.

NotSoFamousNames.com LLC (Moniker) – No thanks, I’ll keep my business at DecentDomains.

Wild West Domains (GoDaddy) – got to wonder what GoDaddy was thinking when it named its reseller division. Nothing says “lack of trust” more than the Wild West.

Registering a domain name might become a lot more time intensive in the future.

Negotiations between ICANN and registrars to amend the registrar accreditation agreement are ongoing, and law enforcement agencies are asking for some pretty big changes to how domains are registered today.

Law enforcement proposals relate to verifying whois information and tracking more information about registrants. Law enforcement agencies that have been involved in consultations include:

Australian Federal Police
Department of Justice (US)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (US)
New Zealand Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Serious Organised Crime Agency (UK)

The latest recommendations from law enforcement agencies are:

* In order to register a domain name you’ll need to phone and email verify. First you’ll receive an email with a link to a verification page. When you go to the page you’ll enter more information including verifying your phone number. You will then get an SMS code or voice message to your phone with a PIN, which you will then need to enter at the registrar’s web site before your domain is added to the zone.

* Law enforcement wants your IP address recorded at time of registration/verification.

* For annual whois updates, registrants will have to take action by completing some sort of verification. If you don’t verify/confirm your details, your domain might be suspended. This verification step will also record the registrant’s IP address.

* An alternative suggestion from law enforcement agencies is for ICANN to run a central verification system.

The silly thing about all of this is it won’t stop a criminal from doing what he or she does today. Sidestepping these systems is very easy. Just ask anyone who has created a phone verification system how many bogus requests they get from Google Voice phone numbers.

Adding these verification steps will certainly increase the cost of domain registrations and lead to massive cart abandonment at domain registrars.

Of course, this is merely a wish list from law enforcement. We’ll see what happens. You can follow the RAA negotiations here.

Meyerson lands at eNom.

Once people discover the domain industry and all it has to offer, it’s hard to move to any other industry.

The latest move comes courtesy of Bari Meyerson. Meyerson left her long-time post at Moniker as it was being sold to Key Drive. Today eNom announced that it has hired Meyerson to work with domainers.

Here are some other people who have recently (some more recently than others) changed jobs within the industry:

Jim Grace – from DomainSponsor to Domain Holdings

Frank Aiello – from Sedo to Domain Holdings

Peter Dengate Thrush – from ICANN’s board to Top Level Domain Holdings (sure, we’ll call the board position a job)

Kamila Sekiewicz – from Sedo to NameDrive

Tessa Holcomb – from Sedo to PPX

Jeff Gabriel – from Sedo to PPX

Lisa Box – from iREIT to Oversee.net (now Moniker:SnapNames)

Who else have I missed?