US registrar Netdorm faces ICANN's Notice of Serious Violations

Recently, ICANN's Contractual Compliance Department issued a "Notice of Default" to Netdorm, Inc. (DnsExit.com, IANA ID 887), a long-established US registrar, requiring it to address multiple compliance issues within a specified timeframe or risk suspension or even termination of its accreditation.

Netdorm, headquartered in Cincinnati, has been accredited by ICANN for over two decades since 2004. Although it manages fewer than 6,000 generic top-level domains, the company has long been known for offering free third-level subdomains, claiming to have over one million such subdomains.

According to documents released by ICANN, Netdorm is accused of several violations: first, failing to complete the migration from the traditional Whois system to RDAP as required by its registrar agreement; second, failing to fulfill its contractual obligations regarding DNS abuse and responding to abuse reports within a reasonable timeframe; and third, failing to pay ICANN fees and engaging in management issues such as insufficient transparency.

ICANN has given Netdorm until mid-October to submit corrective measures. Failure to do so could result in ICANN taking further action, including suspension of its registrar status or even termination of its accreditation.

This case has garnered widespread attention within the industry. On the one hand, Netdorm, a long-established registrar with over 20 years of accreditation and a relatively low profile, now faces a survival crisis due to compliance issues. On the other hand, this also reflects ICANN's increased oversight of registrars in recent years, particularly tightening requirements regarding the transition from Whois to RDAP and DNS abuse governance.