(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com) is shutting down its Standard Tactics subsidiary, according to reports by Domain Name Wire.
On Wednesday, the website reported that the web hosting provider had changed its starting bids on The Domain Name Aftermarket auctions.
On his RadioGoDaddy Wednesday, Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons told Domain Name Wire’s Andrew Allemann that the company is effectively shutting down Standard Tactics. The full show is available on demand here.
Parsons spoke candidly about the controversial subsidiary, which Allemann had openly criticized on his website for essentially “warehousing its customers’ expired domain names and profiting from them.”
According to Parsons, Standard Tactics had about 33,000 domains, 8,000 of which he said made the bulk of the profits. Allemann admits that this figure is lower than he had “privately estimated based on the company having 500 or so .us domains alone (that weren’t covered by domain privacy),” and commends Go Daddy for finally closing the subsidiary down.
Meanwhile, all of the subsidiary’s domains are being added to TDNAM with a $10 starting bid, says Parsons.
Another major issue covered in last night’s radio interview is the 60 day transfer lock Go Daddy enforces on domains when customers change their whois information. Christine Jones, Go Daddy general counsel said the purpose of the transfer lock is to prevent any domain theft.
While Allemann acknowledges the severity of domain theft, he argues that domains are typically “hijacked by compromised email addresses, not whois registrant name changes. He feels that Go Daddy ought to change this policy soon considering that ICANN’s board recently approved a ban on this practice.
Allemann also added that he hopes Go Daddy will reconsider the selling of trademarked domains on TDNAM, as many of these names are expired domains. He suggests that Go Daddy could cut down on the selling of such domains if someone would screen the names for any obvious trademarks before they are auctioned on TDNAM.
He also points out that Go Daddy did file a patent for a system to protect against domain name theft which would effectively resolve this issue, but it is “just an idea at this point, not a working product.”
