Neustar is recommending the establishment of a Registry Lock Service offered to the registrar channel as an additional domain security layer. The service will offer a second level of protection against unintentional modification, transfer, or deletion.  Because Neustar receives periodic requests from the registrar community to place certain premium domain names on registry lock as a component of brand protection efforts, we wish to formalize the availability of this service so that registrars may pass the service offering along to registrants.

The service would function in a similar manner to the lock service proposed by Neustar for .biz, and Verisign for .com and .net (http://www.icann.org/en/registries/rsep/#201003).  The Registry would place domains on “registry lock” using the various EPP server statuses.  These statuses include severDeleteProhibited, serverUpdateProhibited, and serverTransferProhibited.  Only the Registry can set or remove “server” statuses, however the statuses will only be set and/or removed at the direction of the Registrar via a secure communication procedure in which each request is authenticated and validated. 

Registrars will be responsible for all communication and interaction with their registrants, including marketing, customer support, etc.  Registrars will not be obligated to offer this service.  We envision that some registrars will choose to offer this service as part of a package of services while others may offer it as a standalone service.  We believe this service will primarily appeal to domains associated with brand protection, but may appeal to any registrant who desires an extra level of protection provided by the Registry. 

Neustar will charge a monthly fee to registrars for this service.  We anticipate offering tiered pricing based on the number of domains a registrar has in the service.  Our current pricing plans are as follows:

1 - 99 domain names: $4.50 per name per month
100 - 499 domain names: $3.50 per name per month
500 – 1,000 domain name: $2.50 per name per month
1,001 – 2,499 domain name: $1.50 per name per month
>2,500 domains: to be negotiated by Neustar and the registrar


We welcome all input and comments on this proposal.