[OT?] domain registration durations

[Ben Scott]

On 4/28/05, Michael ODonnell <michael.odonnell at comcast.net> wrote:
> Years ago I purchased a "ten-year" registration
> for a domain and that arrangement has worked
> as expected.  Today I spoke with a different
> outfit about registering another domain for
> ten years and they said that ALL domains are
> only ever registered for one year and that a
> "ten-year" registration was really just some
> registrar agreeing to automatically re-register
> you on a yearly basis.

  Well, first, it depends on the registry.  Different registries have
different rules.  That is to say, the rules for .COM are different
then the rules for .CN (China).

  Let me mention here that there is a difference between a registrar
and a registry.  A regisTRY maintains the DNS zone for a TLD.  For
example, Public Interest Registry is the regisTRY for the .ORG domain.
 Verisign Global Registry Services is the regisTRY for the .COM and
.NET TLDs.  Then there are registRARs.  RegistRARs take registrations
from Domain Holders and submit them to the regisTRY for a TLD. 
Network Delusions, GoDaddy, Register.com, and countless others are all
registRARs.

  Now, for the "big three" gTLDs (.COM, .NET, and .ORG), I can quote
ICANN's website:  "Each registrar has the flexibility to offer initial
and renewal registrations in one-year increments, provided that the
maximum remaining unexpired term shall not exceed ten years." 
(http://www.icann.org/faq/#regtime)  So your ten-year registration is
legit.

  Anything longer then ten years may or may not be legit.  For
example, Network Delusions used to offer a "one-hundred year
registration".  What NSI did was take your money up front, register
for the max period, and then renew it automatically for you as needed.
 It's perfectly legit for NSI to make an agreement with you to do
that, even if the registry and WHOIS doesn't reflect that agreement.

  Now, the registrars have to submit to submit an anual fee to the
registry for each domain they register for you.  For example, if you
register a .COM domain with GoDaddy, then GoDaddy has to send $6 every
year to VGRS for that domain name.  That may be what the registrar you
were talking to was talking about.  (Although I suspect your own
analysis is the correct one.)

  (Note that my information is somewhat out-of-date.  For example, I
know VeriSlime was talking about reorganizing VGRS, NSI, and friends,
and may have done so.  But while the names may have changed, the rules
are still the same, AFAIK.)