“Hello, this is Robert with ICANN, how can I help you?”
ICANN is launching a hotline that everyone who owns a domain name will soon be calling, in order to verify ownership of their domain names.
The new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) requires that a certain amount of personal information is disclosed to the domain Registrar, and ICANN can store aggregate and detailed data for up to 25 years in some cases.
As part of the RAA, the following info may or may not be required:
- Phone number and best time to call.
- Home address.
- Current IP address.
- Operating system.
- Favorite color.
- Name of first pet.
- Location of first kiss.
- A copy of your tax return.
- DNA sample.
Other bits and pieces of information might be required.
“We are striving to make domaining a safe, productive place to be,” said Milosh Fritcz of ICANN-Hungary.
“The new RAA poses requirements that everyone with a domain name will be asked to comply with, as long as they want their domain to resolve,” added Fritcz.
ICANN is expecting a call volume of 25,000 inbound calls per day; they are already preparing to utilize two large call centers in India and one in the Philippines.
For those of you in the US that have not talked to outsourced tech support on the phone before, be prepared to have both your patience and linguistic skills tested.
