back to article Congrats from 123-Reg! You can now pay us an extra £6 or £12 a year for basically nothing

UK domain name holders are furious with registrar 123-Reg for automatically charging them an additional £6 a year for a service few of them want or even need. Thousands of .uk domain owners have been informed this week that 123-Reg is "adding advanced protection features" to their domain in the next few weeks. The "upgrade" …

  1. AGS221

    I opened I support ticket with these robbers about an hour ago having received one of their emails about this for two domains I have never had domain privacy on and have no requirements for.

    I go into my control panel, change the domain privacy settings to NO for both domains, click Save and it changes them back to YES again. Not only did I never want it in the first place, but it cannot be disabled. The domains aren't up for renewal till 2019 and 2020 so guessing they're just hoping users will ignore this and they'll add their stealth charge when the time comes.

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      I've just tried this and it's happening to me too.

      123-Reg will never learn.

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        "123-Reg will never learn."

        They will. What they learn depends on whether punters stay with them.

    2. Richard Winslow 123-reg

      Sorry that you received the email. I made a mistake on the data selection and included those who had enabled the Nominet Whois Optout which was available for Individual/Personal registrations around 2014.

      Only customers who purchased and paid for Privacy will be moved to the new product. Any customers not wanting to be migrated can turn Privacy off within their Control Panel in advance. Those who do not read the email will have an extended period of time to request a refund if the service of Domain Ownership Protection is not wanted.

      There is a bug that I have opened reflecting the older free Privacy which you are referring to which we will get sorted - this will not effect charging in these cases as they are not going to be billed anyhow.

      Richard.

      1. snozdop

        Those who do not read the email will have an extended period of time to request a refund if the service of Domain Ownership Protection is not wanted.

        How about just not auto-opting people in to the service in the first place, and letting people choose for themselves whether they want this "service" (aka money-grab)?

      2. Dave Bell

        I wonder who I should report this to as theft and criminal deception. Action Fraud don't inspire confidence, from the way they handle spam emails. Anyone else?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          theft and criminal deception

          Taking money wthout consent ?

          1. Wayland

            Re: theft and criminal deception

            You consented when you made your first payment. Too bad if you are easily parted from your money. If it really bothered you then you'd go to their office and shoot them. I don't see anyone doing that, so you agreed to the charge.

        2. Alan Brown Silver badge

          "Action Fraud don't inspire confidence, from the way they handle spam emails. "

          Understatement of the century. Utterly clueless responses are the best way I'd describe them.

      3. wolfetone Silver badge

        "I made a mistake on the data selection and included those who had enabled the Nominet Whois Optout which was available for Individual/Personal registrations around 2014."

        So it's a GDPR issue now then?

        Tut tut tut

      4. Spazturtle Silver badge

        Nominet no longer display personal information on whois lookup due to GDPR, so what are you charging for?

      5. blokedownthepub

        "Any customers not wanting to be migrated can turn Privacy off within their Control Panel in advance. Those who do not read the email will have an extended period of time to request a refund if the service of Domain Ownership Protection is not wanted."

        So we're going to get charged by default for something we didn't ask for. It's up to us to make the effort to avoid the charge.

        I received the email last week but don't remember anything about being able to opt out.

        I thought there were laws about unsolicited goods and services.

        BT did this by giving all BT&Sky customers the BT sports channel free, then after a year sent an email saying it would be charged at £5/month, requiring a phone call to opt out of something we didn't ask for.

    3. Naich

      That's not a "Save" button, that's a "Set domains to autorenew for 1 year" button. You have to change them to "Off" and then exit the page without clicking anything else.

      1. blokedownthepub

        That's not a "Save" button, ... You have to change them to "Off" and then exit the page without clicking anything else.

        That didn't work for me. It let me disable one, but not the other two. I have 5 domains but only 3 appear on that page.

        Migrating 5 domains to Gandi. Their domain hosting includes 2 free free mailboxes, which is all I need.

        1. wolfetone Silver badge

          "Migrating 5 domains to Gandi. Their domain hosting includes 2 free free mailboxes, which is all I need."

          Got to love a company that - on their homepage - tell you that they don't bullshit you.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Fygu

      Rygi tuft

    5. SonOfDilbert

      According to 123-reg support guy I have bee chatting to, if you can't turn the privacy off then it's because you previously opted-in to free whois privacy. The guy told me that if this is the case then no charge would be made and you would be 'upgrade' for free. He also told me that you have 30 days after a charge to cancel the 'upgrade' and get a refund.

      Anyway, I think it's time I transferred away from 123.

  2. Sampler

    Oddly timed

    Given I got an update from Cloudflare today on how there privacy conscious minimal cost system is coming along, about a month delayed, but sounds like a lot of 123-Reg customers will happy switch across when it is up and running...

    1. MatthewSt

      Re: Oddly timed

      Seconded. CloudFlare can't get into this soon enough!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No email here

    I have a couple of *.uk domains with 123-reg but the only email I've had from them this week was a marketing communcation asking me whether I would recommend their service to others!

    I'll keep an eye out for this now though, thanks for the warning.

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      Re: No email here

      Haven't had an email either.

      1. Danny 14

        Re: No email here

        they probably realised the emails were making people angry so it was easier not to tell anyone (abd just do it anyway)

    2. HolySchmoley

      Re: No email here

      I've had this email, as has a friend who also uses 123-Reg.

    3. annodomini2
      Devil

      Re: No email here

      Check your spam box

  4. 9Rune5
    WTF?

    Snake oil sales men

    Twenty years ago I needed a cert for my employer's website.

    I don't remember if I was talking with VeriSign or Thawte, but in any case they had a superspecial offer that cost about 50% more and I had to ask about what the benefits were.

    Turns out that the extra fee entitled the vict...customer to put a "Verified by ..." sticker on the vict...customer's web site. "So you are basically charging extra for advertising your services to my customers?" I asked. The reply was of course enthusiastically enumerating all the benefits of doing exactly that.

    Being young and naive I immediately wrote them off as 'idiots'. It is only now, years later, that I realize I am the idiot for not coming up with similar near-fraudulent schemes. My way results in less income, so there is probably a lesson in there somewhere.

    1. Lee D Silver badge

      Re: Snake oil sales men

      Honestly never understood such things anyway.

      Does anyone ever click and check them from those icons?

      Is that in any way secure anyway (if the website wasn't in the first place)?

      How many people who don't understand the SSL certificate highlights in browsers, who then go to click on the Verified By... thing then have the first clue about checking that that's actually genuinely FROM the SSL provider in the first place?

      If only all the information required to verify the certificate was somehow included in the certificate itself, and somehow showed itself in the browser as soon as you visited such a secure website, eh?

      1. Danny 14

        Re: Snake oil sales men

        oh symantec, ive heard of those antivirus people and trust them....

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I want to move away

    I have a .com domain with 123-reg that will be up for renewal next year. Any ideas on who is a reliable, but cheap company, preferably available from the UK? Thanks

    1. wiggers

      Re: I want to move away

      I'm using Tsohost now, seem reasonably low-cost and competent.

      1. No Quarter

        Re: I want to move away

        That's the same company as 123-reg.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I want to move away

        TSO is owned by the same people as 123-reg... just saying

      3. zapper
        Thumb Down

        Re: I want to move away

        Tsohost - you mean that company who used to be Webfusion with decent 24/7 support by phone for dedicated servers, who downgraded everything to web ticket only support, but only business hours, every second saturday 3-4.45pm and Sunday lunchtimes in every 5th leap year.

      4. Richard Cranium

        Re: I want to move away

        Isn't TSO host now part of the same group, HEG?

    2. verno

      Re: I want to move away

      Depends on wht you mean by "availliable from the UK".

      I've recently swapped most of our domains over to gandi.net (I think they're based in France).

      So far no issues, had a bit of a problem transferring one of the domains but that was sorted by their help desk, so far so happy!

      MattV

    3. katrinab Silver badge

      Re: I want to move away

      I've moved all my domains to OVH, who are based in France, not UK, but renewal costs £3.59 per year, and they have an API that lets you do domain validation with LetsEncrypt.

    4. J4

      Re: I want to move away

      If you can reconcile yourself to the slurp implications, google domains has been fine for us, moved earlier this year. Cheap and easy, though we don't have a complex setup and I haven't had to put in any fault tickets yet. We were already on GSuite so felt like we couldn't get any more naked anyway.

    5. Laughing Gravy

      Re: I want to move away

      Tsohost.com

    6. Spasticus Autisticus

      Re: I want to move away

      Express Hosting

    7. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I want to move away

      Another vote for tsohost. I've had a small handful of domains registered through vidahost originally (now rolled into their parent company tsohost) with no problems and good service (responsive ticketing system). Seems the same since they market as tsohost and not had any need to contact them since then (i.e. no problems). As vidahost they offered free web hosting for low traffic small charitable/community sites. I don't know if they still do as tsohost.

      1. Karl Austin

        You do realise that tsohost is the same company right? 123-reg and TSOhost are both owned by GoDaddy. HostEurope bought TSOhost and were then bought by GoDaddy.

        1. katrinab Silver badge

          Is there a list anywhere of all the companies GoDaddy owns?

          Hurley Internet is another one. I used to use them, but I have now migrated everything off them except for a couple of domains that I no longer use and am going to lapse.

          1. Jed T

            try wikipedia

        2. kingwahwah

          I got that email. I read the extremely badly worded email as you have to activate it.

          Godaddy own 123-reg ? News to me.

          I have 100+ domains with them I swore I would never use Godaddy after their anti net neutrality support.

          We are Gsuite so look at Google Domains today.

          Another thing that annoys me about 123 is i'm on direct debit but they put renewals in my basket when I buy new domains via my company credit card.

          1. ZiggyZiggy

            Sadly it's true.

            123 Reg / TSO / Paragon Internet Group / Host Europe Group > Go Daddy

            And there is a whole load of other companies swallowed up on the process...

            The hosting business is at that mature stage where a few big players are swallowing up everything.

            1. Julian Bradfield

              easydns . Been happy with them for decades now, and they're in Canada, not owned by GoDaddy, and have a robust attitude to most things.

              1. Barry Rueger

                Second vote for

                easyDNS. They are independent, and have a REALLY good attitude re privacy and such. Decent support.

            2. HashimFromSheffield

              As far as I can tell the structure is specifically:

              123Reg > Host Europe Group > GoDaddy

              Tsohost > Paragon Internet Group > Host Europe Group > GoDaddy

              HEG - the parent company behind 123Reg - acquired Paragon - the parent company behind Tsohost - in 2015, and so both were acquired by GoDaddy when GoDaddy acquired HEG in 2016. No other reason for mentioning this other than this it's good for things like this to be more transparent than they are, and also it vaguely interests me. But yes, GoDaddy owns both 123Reg and Tshost (as well as Heart Internet and a few other relatively popular ones), and the only things separating them are 3 and 4 levels of hierarchy, respectively.

    8. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: I want to move away

      Mythic Beasts

      1. Chronos
        Thumb Up

        Re: I want to move away

        Mythic Beasts

        Exactly what I was going to say. At this point I really don't know why companies like 123reg still exist given that Mythic Beasts are cheaper, have customer support light years ahead of anything this lot can offer, do pretty much everything you could possibly want or as little as you require and know what they're doing.

        That last point seems to be a USP. Quite how the domain name and simple hosting sector got AOLified I really can't fathom.

        1. unimaginative

          Re: I want to move away

          Not well known enough. There are lots of good smaller companies no one uses.

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I want to move away

        tsohost lists prices without tax.

        Try crazydomains.co.uk

    9. Dabooka

      Re: I want to move away

      Following advice on here, I shifted to Mythic Beasts and have been very happy.

      I have no affiliation whatsoever just a customer etc etc..

      1. Sgt_Oddball

        Re: I want to move away

        How did I not know about this? Will have to remember to check about my next renewal and move my domain over. DynamicDNS for my own domain would be a massive boon (and should be standard practice but cest la vie)

    10. aks

      Re: I want to move away

      My son, and a friend who manages 3 TLD's himself always recommends Blacknight dot com. They're based in Ireland but handle most domains.

    11. VerySadGeek

      Re: I want to move away

      I was going to recommend heartinternet.co.uk - but I just looked up who owns them and it's Host Europe Group which is owned by Go Daddy. Now I will have to move my own domains :(

  6. silks

    Leave 123-Reg

    I hope customers vote with their feet - 123-Reg have history here (remember automatic .UK domain registration) and although they might grab some short term revenue long term trust has been broken here (again). Plenty of more reputable registrars out there to select from :)

    1. MrKrotos

      Re: Leave 123-Reg

      123 are RUBBISH! Stay well clear!

      Charging extra money, loosing domains when being transfered, forcing you to grab the .uk after purchaing a .co.uk

      I hate 123, I had nothing but issues with them.

      The worst part was thier "support" services asking me for my username and password over the phone, I asked to speak to a manager who then said and i quote "Its okay as we have secure telephone lines" WTF? Security? What security!

      Try namecheap, they cover the WHOIS info for FREE!

      1. defiler

        Re: Leave 123-Reg

        "Its okay as we have secure telephone lines"

        Good for you. I don't...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Leave 123-Reg

        > Try namecheap, they cover the WHOIS info for FREE!

        *ALL* whois hiding is free for all domains from all companies for EU residents. (Don't know what happens post br-suicide)

  7. wiggers

    Offered for domain already migrated away!

    They sent me the 'deal' for a domain I transferred to someone else many years ago! When I queried it they sent me a list of half a dozen other domains they were 'protecting' that I had transferred to another registrar over the past couple of years.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Offered for domain already migrated away!

      Similar experience with FreeParking - renewal notices for domain migrated away.

  8. Bronek Kozicki

    Speaking of domain hosting

    ... how is the experience with Mythic Beasts, anyone?

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Speaking of domain hosting

      "how is the experience with Mythic Beasts, anyone?"

      Been OK for me. I only host a few domain names & one email service with them so no idea about web hosting.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Speaking of domain hosting

      Mythic Beasts are clueful, do LetsEncrypt certs with just one tick, support good causes (they host the Raspberry Pi website, for example), and are pretty good value for money, too.

    3. Chris King

      Re: Speaking of domain hosting

      "how is the experience with Mythic Beasts, anyone?"

      I've been with them for web hosting and e-mail for over 10 years. Reliable, clued-up, and excellent support on the few occasions when I've needed it. One-click automatic DNSSEC, easy SSL certificate setup with LetsEncrypt at no extra cost on domains you host with them, and if you can't stretch to a dedicated server you can even host on a Raspberry Pi or Mac Mini in their data centres.

      Not the cheapest out there, but pretty decent.

    4. Chronos
      Thumb Up

      Re: Speaking of domain hosting

      .. how is the experience with Mythic Beasts, anyone?

      Superb. As well as them being my registrar and secondary DNS I also have email with them after I got fed up of having to renumber every time my ISP pissed me off and, for two quid a month (inc the dreaded VAT), it is rock solid.

      They also host usenet.org.uk pro bono.

  9. Franco

    I use names.co.uk for my business. Don't actually have a website setup at present, but I use all of the DNS functionality for Office 365 and a few other things.

    When I was setting it up 123-reg had accidentally deleted most of their customers websites in 2016, so were automatically off my list.

    1. Locky

      +1 for NamesCo

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I moved to domain monster many moons ago after 123-reg's dns was down for a whole weekend but it wasn't a problem as dns hosting was free according to support so there was no SLA.

    Sadly domain monster were taken over by 123-reg recently so that was the end of that

    My registrar of choice at the moment is gandi.net.

  11. Tezfair

    i've been happy with krystal hosting (clients) unlimited web hosting (what we use but are considering going to krystal). cheap and responsive.

  12. FuzzyWuzzys
    Flame

    Took mine to Gandi

    One of the reasons I dumped Freeparking.co.uk, they just wanted more and more money for less and less features, they cut my domains down to a single email address! I took my 6 domains to Gandi 18 months ago and never looked back. Too many shysters in the domain game.

  13. Joeman

    I use UKReg and NamesCheap.

    Booth have been good to me, but im waiting for CloudFlare to open their domain registry as i use CloudFlare for most of my domains.

    1. Pen-y-gors

      I've used Fasthosts (used to be UKReg) for years, no obvious problems, prices okay.

  14. adam payne

    Maybe they'll use the extra money to sort out their customer service. :D

  15. Billa Bong

    Was on 123, moved to FreeParking, then to Heart Internet

    Sadly, Heart Internet had a series of outages recently that left me concerned for the reliability of the platform, and worse still they flatly refused to honor the SLA published on their web site. Since I've just moved my VPS's over to AWS I'm now considering Amazon for my domain registrations...

    1. katrinab Silver badge

      Re: Was on 123, moved to FreeParking, then to Heart Internet

      Heart Internet are another part of the GoDaddy Hydra along with 123.

      1. Ben Tasker

        Re: Was on 123, moved to FreeParking, then to Heart Internet

        > Heart Internet are another part of the GoDaddy Hydra along with 123.

        Indeed. In fact, if you look closely, you'll see they even use the same VAT number :)

  16. No Quarter

    OK. Calm down. Fake news etc.

    I have contacted the muppets at 123-reg.

    This actually only applies to domains that have "Domain Privacy" enabled.

    Their email and this article are therefore misleading.

    1. Chronos
      Flame

      Re: OK. Calm down. Fake news etc.

      Not really fake news if they sent the bloody e-mail, is it? They created the news, El Reg is just reporting it.

      Please remember this is not Twitter or Facebook so such euphemisms as "fake news" mean sod all here. This is more a case of "no smoke without fire" in that, if they can't get their own communications right, how the hell can anyone trust them with theirs?

      1. No Quarter

        Re: OK. Calm down. Fake news etc.

        Yeah, but no, but yeah.

        If I can extract the truth then surely The Register could have managed it. They are a reputable news outlet that has just scared lots of people into thinking they are being forced to pay £6 a year when they aren't.

        1. Chronos

          Re: OK. Calm down. Fake news etc.

          I suppose if you squint and look at it a bit sideways you could have a point. The fact remains that a company whose core business is that of communication miscommunicated a policy change. How do you know the droid you spoke to has it right and it's not just a "FFS, tell them anything, I can't handle all this crap on a Thursday" directive from middle manglement?

          Competence? They've heard of it. Lovely name for a girl.

    2. AGS221

      Re: OK. Calm down. Fake news etc.

      The two domains I was emailed about have NEVER had domain privacy. Their invoices reflect that. They've randomly picked two out of my 30-odd domains with them, switched on privacy, told me they're going to bill me for it and prevented me from switching it off. There's nothing misleading about that.

  17. Zippy´s Sausage Factory
    Unhappy

    Guess it's time I finished transferring my other domains and deleting my UK ones then...

  18. Snorlax Silver badge

    Hate to be *that* guy, but...

    "In a post-GDPR world, with personal data redacted from the .UK Whois, there may be a diminishing demand for services offering privacy,"

    ...after Brexit registrars will presumably be free to un-redact personally identifiable information from the .UK Whois?

    So they could in theory justify charging a fee to redact your information again, although they would be massive scumbags if they did...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hate to be *that* guy, but...

      "...after Brexit registrars will presumably be free to un-redact personally identifiable information from the .UK Whois?"

      Well, after having modified/repealed the Data Protection Bill 2018, which implements the provisions of the GDPR, maybe.

  19. a_reg_reader

    Just phoned

    Just phoned 123-reg for some clarification on this. The rather harassed gentleman on the phone said that a new e-mail will be sent shortly to clarify this "problem" (his words). Assured that I wouldn't get charged before the new e-mail appears.

    Seriously regretting not getting my act together and moving webhosting before the exorbitant renewal kicked in. It's only money I don't have and now 123-reg does...

  20. rmstock

    registered letter

    £6 a year for : Safeguard against theft , Hiding your personal information. These two options seem to contradict each other. When hiding personal information, the domain robbers can operate from any address. When not hiding , the simple requirement of demanding registered mail from and to your address, e.g. 2610 Rutherford St Westminster, London, SW1P 2LT , UK as part of the transfer of your domain makes it nearly impossible for third parties to hijack/steal your domain.

  21. Paul Eagles

    Ugh, an awful company. I tried to transfer some domains to them recently and apart from taking payment for the invoice they did absolutely fuck all.

    My support ticket was ignored despit enumerous bumps so I opened a claim through PayPal. Eventually they responded and gave me a refund.

    Definitely a company I'll never deal with it again.

  22. flobadober

    FcUK

    I'm going to bin my .uk domains anyway as I expect the UK will dissolve shortly :)

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hiding domain owner information

    Hiding domain owner information in this way makes no sense.

    If you are using a *.uk domain for personal use, then you always could easily request that your contact details not be listed in whois.

    If you are using a *.uk domain for business purposes, then doesn't company (charity, etc) law require that the organisation publishes its real contact address on the website in any case?

    (I suppose there might be some corner cases that might fall between the two categories, such as community groups, which might "operate" c/o somebody's front room, and where it still might not be particularly desirable to publish someone's home address to all and sundry, but I would have thought that there would/should be legitimate ways around this for those cases?)

  24. Muscleguy

    Hoots Mon

    Sorry for not being a ray of traditional sunshine but does this apply to .scot domains as well? I don't have a domain as I currently have no need of one but asking for a friend (in case I ever get one with a site).

    1. Wayland

      Re: Hoots Mon

      It's not for me, it's for my friend, honest.

  25. peterprl

    Unbelievable email from 123-reg, moved to Google as already using G-Suite.

    Pah

  26. cantankerous swineherd

    look like one for the competition and markets people or trading standards.

  27. SteveTM

    I have just moved the last of my domains away from 123-reg and wont be going back. VOTE WITH YOUR FEET!

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pedant Alert!

    "...are hidden from the hoi polloi by GDPR..."

    Standards are slipping at el reg - "hoi" is the nominative masculine singular form of the definite demonstrative article? Or in order words, it means "the", and therefore "the hoi" is a bit of a pleonasm.

  29. zxc123

    Getting as bad as 1&1!

  30. steviebuk Silver badge

    I think...

    ...they used to host IT Idiot videos some years ago when the big data lose happened. Unfortunately IT Idiots didn't have backups so they lost everything. Luckily I'd downloaded them all and when YouTube became big enough stuck them on there.

    I used to be with 123 Reg back in early 2000s but dumped them after a few years as even back then they were turning shit. They've now been shit for years.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If they remove the domain transfer controls for you too...

    Then you'll want these links:

    Manage domain locking:

    https://123-reg.co.uk/secure/r.pl?domain=DOMAIN.TLD&d=secure_locking

    Request auth code:

    https://123-reg.co.uk/secure/r.pl?domain=DOMAIN.TLD&d=secure_authcode

    I've moved virtually all domains away form these muppets over the years (mostly to Gandi) but some months ago observed the domain transfer controls are greyed out with no explanation for the remaining domains. Awful company in so many ways I've lost count.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Moved away from 123

    I'd been too tolerant with their f**k-ups but after another price hike and when they refused (quoting Data Protection Act!) to explain an item they'd charged for but for which they'd not invoiced, just took the money from the bank I finally moved several hundred domains to somewhere cheaper with a much better and versatile UI. Not saying who 'cos GoDaddy might go and buy them up too (this may not be quite accurate but something like: GoDaddy bought HEG which had bought Paragon which owned 123reg and others, sounds like sometime soon GoDaddy will have a monopoly...)

    Moving a domain is a nuisance - but worth it

    I do have a residual issue with 123, they kindly acquired (FOC) some bare .uk variants of some of my .co.uk domains but they seem to be locked from transfer so I remain a reluctant customer.

  33. OldManBrook

    Daylight Robbers

    I just moved two domains from this host after incompetence with their Web hosting.

    Instead of disabling a rogue script, they took my website down for 12 hours.

    It doesn't surprise me that they're up to no good. Good riddance to bad rubbish, vote with your feet!

  34. Andy Neale

    Another 'Upvote' for Gandi

    Moved all my domains from 123Robbers to Gandi about 6 months ago, Excellent service and much better control panel.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmmm

    I haven't had the email, but have just logged into the control panel and changed CC details to a card I am about to cancel, just in case.

    Will look at migrating to Mythic Beasts.

  36. Drone Pilot

    Route 53 - AWS

    Just move to Amazon's route 53. Less user friendly but perfectly fine.

    Stopped complaining here about your account. 123 and 1&1 will never change. I left both for the shame reasons.

  37. rmstock

    Your Domain Robbers Paradise

    I think two new developments got mixed up here. 1 The impact of The European Laws on General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as ICANN.org has enforced them upon all Domain Registry's across the globe :

    Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data

    Adopted on 17 May 2018 by ICANN Board Resolutions 2018.05.17.01 2018.05.17.09

    https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/gtld-registration-data-temp-spec-17may18-en.pdf

    and

    2. the special case of Great Britain and The United Kingdom who are in a process of leaving the EU called BREXIT. For instance kernel.org today has its Organizational Information masked (involuntary or enforced by Statutory Rule ?) :

    whois -h whois.gandi.net kernel.org :

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    Domain Name: kernel.org

    Registry Domain ID: D169413-LROR

    Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.gandi.net

    Registrar URL: http://www.gandi.net

    Updated Date: 2018-01-22T17:44:05Z

    Creation Date: 1997-03-07T00:00:00Z

    Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2019-03-08T05:00:00Z

    Registrar: GANDI SAS

    Registrar IANA ID: 81

    Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@support.gandi.net

    Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +33.170377661

    Reseller:

    Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited

    Domain Status:

    Domain Status:

    Domain Status:

    Domain Status:

    Registry Registrant ID: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

    Registrant Name: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

    Registrant Organization: The Linux Foundation

    Registrant Street: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

    Registrant City: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

    Registrant State/Province:

    Registrant Postal Code: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

    Registrant Country: US

    Registrant Phone: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

    Registrant Phone Ext:

    Registrant Fax: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

    Registrant Fax Ext:

    Registrant Email: 15856665af88439849e4b94ece523edc-1755790@contact.gandi.net

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    My own domain is now "protected" by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well :

    whois -h whois.networksolutions.com stokkie.net :

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    Domain Name: STOKKIE.NET

    Registry Domain ID: 68885803_DOMAIN_NET-VRSN

    Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com

    Registrar URL: http://networksolutions.com

    Updated Date: 2018-03-20T03:30:56Z

    Creation Date: 2001-04-05T22:00:27Z

    Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2019-04-05T22:00:27Z

    Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.

    Registrar IANA ID: 2

    Reseller:

    Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited

    Registry Registrant ID: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Name: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Organization: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Street: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant City: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant State/Province: NB

    Registrant Postal Code: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Country: NL

    Registrant Phone: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Phone Ext: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Fax: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Fax Ext: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Email: abuse@web.com

    Registry Admin ID:

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    Of course i don't want Network Solutions LLC to mask my information, it is however overruled and enforced by ICANN.org :

    KA-02358

    General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) FAQs

    https://knowledge.web.com/subjects/article/KA-02358/en-us

    "[ ... ]

    How will Web.com manage WHOIS masking for EU residents?

    In order to comply with GDPR, and protect personally identifiable information (PII), Web.com will mask certain fields in the WHOIS output for EU residents. A sample of this output is detailed below:

    Domain Name: sampledomain.com

    Registry Domain ID: 142700135_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN

    Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.register.com

    Registrar URL: http://www.register.com

    Updated Date: 2017-12-04T08:00:03Z

    Creation Date: 2005-02-16T23:28:11Z

    Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2019-02-16T23:28:11Z

    Registrar: Register.com, Inc.

    Registrar IANA ID: 9

    Reseller:

    Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited

    Registry Registrant ID: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Name: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Organization: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Street: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant City: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant State/Province:

    Registrant Postal Code: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Country: BE

    Registrant Phone: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Phone Ext.: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Fax: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Fax Ext.: Statutory Masking Enabled

    Registrant Email: abuse@web.com

    // --- // (etc,)

    Will Web.com be implementing tiered access for its WHOIS database?

    At this time, Web.com does not plan to implement tiered access for its WHOIS database. However, ICANN and its Stakeholders are actively working toward a uniform solution which will help meet the needs of the broader global community.

    How will domain transfers work in a post-GDPR environment?

    Web.com will comply with its obligations under the ICANN 2013 RAA (Registrar Accreditation Agreement) with regard to intra-registrar transfers as well as the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data which can be found at this page.

    The information contained herein in no way constitutes legal advice. Any person who intends to rely upon or use this information in any way is solely responsible for independently verifying the information and obtaining independent expert advice if required."

    1. rmstock

      Re: Your Domain Robbers Paradise

      Rule Number 1 : The bad guys always operate under secrecy. Rule Number 2: The good guys never operate under secrecy.

      How it came about that today the EU and ICANN.org appear to work hand in hand to cast a dark shade of secrecy over all Domain Registry's across the world is a good question.

  38. blokedownthepub

    I got the email on 23-Oct. Funnily enough it only mentions 3 of the 5 domains I have, and I've never requested Domain Privacy on any of them

    The control panel show those 3 domains with Domain Privacy but will only allow me to switch it off for one of them. I've logged a complaint / support ticket with them.

    One domain is due to expire next month, so I'll migrate that this week.

    I only use the domains for email, not websites. Can anyone recommend hosting for mail only?

  39. Booh
    Trollface

    Problem?

    I used 123 some years ago. The most surprising thing about this article was learning that they still have some customers!

  40. SonOfDilbert

    Moved to Mythic Beasts

    I moved my domains away from 123 this week to Mythic Beasts who seem ok. They don't offer free web or mail forwarding which is a shame. I found forwardemail.net which works well so far for forwarding email to my gmail account.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Moved to Mythic Beasts

      "Mythic Beasts who seem ok. They don't offer free web or mail forwarding which is a shame."

      They offer both.

      Log in and go to https://ctrlpanel.mythic-beasts.com/customer/home

      Top left of the options is "Web and Email Hosting". The second option there is Web Mail which offers a choice of Round Cube and Squirrel Mail.

      On the "Mail Configuration" page the first option on the "Add delivery address" panel is "Forward to".

      Maybe you've discovered all that by now.

  41. someshds

    123-REG RIPPING OFF CUSTOMERS

    I just wanted setup SSL i.e. secure socket layer, which is the secure way to transfer data over the internet, and allows users to feel secure when on your website.. apparently 123-reg, don’t give it for free with their hosting, then they ask you to purchase it for £60 per year.. thing is that other hosting providers give SSL for free, and you can also purchase it for approximately £5 per year from other companies. I was also surprised when I purchased a SSL certificate from another company, then tried to set up on my 12-reg website to find that they don’t accept SSL certificates from other other companies..

    So in summary it looks like 123-reg.co.uk

    1. Don’t provide free SSL certificates

    2. Charge 500% more than other companies for the SSL certificate and

    3. Don’t allow you to purchase your own SSL certificates from other companies.

    4. They use the fact that customers are already using their services and use this commitment to hoodwink their customers into paying huge fees unnecessarily.

    Most hosting companies provide SSL services for free and are ranked much higher in hosting company rankings.

    Unfortunately 12 is the largest provider in the UK, but don’t rate very highly when tested..

    I've just moved all my services away from 123-reg, as I refuse to give anymore money n to a company with these morals. I suggest you don’t purchase any services from 123, and spread the word to other 123-reg users. Together we can make sure that companies like these don’t rip off any more customers.

    I believe in people power - the power of the common people to make change...

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