Newsletter: April 2010

Take these steps to protect your domain

Disputes often arise regarding the legitimate ownership of a domain. It’s important to be aware of the correct procedures to follow when registering a domain. We’d like to take a couple of minutes to explain how the process works and advise you on how to ensure you are the legitimate owner of the domain(s) you’ve registered:

• Make sure you are the domain name registrant: Whether you register your domain through a domain administrator (e.g. Hetzner) or directly with a Registrar, you must ensure that you are listed as the registrant and that the details recorded are your correct details. For practical reasons, it may be necessary for you to put your service provider or web designer’s contact details in the Technical and/or Billing Contact field. These administrative fields don’t affect the ownership of your domain.
• Register company-owned domains under the company name: Occasionally, disputes arise between shareholders in a company which leads to disagreements as to who owns the domain name. To avoid such disputes, it is advisable to ensure that company-owned domains are registered under the company name.
• Update or check your registrant information regularly: We recommend you regularly check that your domain registrant information is correct by consulting your registrar’s Whois database.
  • .co.za
  • .org.za
  • .com; .org; .net; .info; .biz
  • .de; .eu
  • .co.uk
Should you find your contact details are incorrect, please email your request to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) from the Authoritative Contact email address listed on your Hetzner profile. Our Admin department will then assist you in updating your details successfully.

Alternatively, if you have registered a .co.za domain through Hetzner, you are able to check and update your details via your konsoleH control panel by selecting ‘Update Domain Details (WHOIS)’ under 'Managed Services'.

• Be vigilant of fraudulent mails ‘disguised’ as your registrar: Spam mails pretending to be your registrar or mails asking you to sign papers are more than likely fraudulent. If you are not absolutely sure that the mail is from your registrar, do not reply. By giving a response or signing documents, you may be handing over domain ownership without realising it. If you find that your domain name has been 'stolen' in this manner, there is very little that the domain name administrator (i.e. Hetzner) can do as the company is legally obligated to deal with the person that is listed as the Registrant.
• Make sure you renew the domains you wish to keep: Failing to renew domain names will result in the expiry of your ownership, meaning that your domain name can be registered by another person or company at any time. Make sure your details are up to date so that you receive renewal notifications timeously.