Mar 7, 2007 : RegisterFly Web Site Goes Offline

📅 March 7, 2007 - Domain registrar RegisterFly (registerfly.com) went offline yesterday morning and remains unavailable, reports Netcraft (netcraft.com). The downtime follows weeks of problems with the registerfly.com site, with domain name owners saying they have been unable to manage or transfer their domains.


ICANN has asked a California court to order RegisterFly to turn over its database of domain data and compel an emergency audit of its books and records, and has called on the help of central domain registries to protect domain owners.

"Last Friday, ICANN convened a telephone conference among those needed to implement a plan that will help cease unintended deletions," ICANN said on its blog. "This will prevent names from being deleted from the registry and becoming available for re-registration by others."

The company descended into chaos last week in the midst of allegations that former RegisterFly president and CEO misused company funds. Thousands of customer domain names are in danger of being lost, with at least 75,000 customer domains expired as a direct result of the company's financial and management problems.

RegisterFly's parent company Unified Names has filed a lawsuit, blaming the operational problems on misuse of company funds by president and CEO Kevin Medina, who was fired by the company's board. Meanwhile, RegisterFly customers have complained to ICANN, saying that the group should have acted sooner.