To Shut Down Standard Tactics, LLC — Go Daddy
Standard Tactics and 60-day lock discussed on Radio Go Daddy.
I just concluded my interview with Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons on his internet radio show. It is available for on demand listening RadioGoDaddy.com.
Perhaps the biggest news that came out of the interview is that GoDaddy is effectively shutting down Standard Tactics. Parsons stated it had regarding 33,000 domains in the subsidiary and 8,000 that made most of the money. This is lower than I privately estimated based on the firm having 500 or so .us domains alone (that weren’t covered by domain privacy). Regardless, it’s good to hear that Go Daddy is closing this down. Parsons stated all of the names are being added to TDNAM with a $10 starting bid.
We also discussed the 60 day transfer lock that Go Daddy places on domains when you change your whois information. Go Daddy General Counsel Christine Jones stated this is in place to stop domain theft. While domain theft is certainly a big problem, domains are usually hijacked by compromised e-mail addresses, not whois registrant name changes. Go Daddy will have to change this practice soon since ICANN’s board recently approved a ban on this practice that had been working its way through committee.
One area that I hope Go Daddy reconsiders is trademarked domain names that are sold on TDNAM. Many of these are expired domains. I don’t know how unreasonable it is to have someone monitoring them for obvious trademarks. You won’t eliminate 100%, but surely someone who sees NHLCenterIce.com, Comcastg.net, and Sirius1.info would realize these are trademarks. (All of these domains were in expired domain auctions as of last Friday.) Unfortunately, a technology that Go Daddy filed a patent for last year that would resolve this problem is just an idea at this point, not a working product.
