How did this person get a .EDU domain?

[Captain_Goggles]

I recently found the following site, registered September 2006:
http://www.pns.edu

I doubt that this is "accredited by an agency on the U.S. Department of Education's list of Nationally recognized accrediting agencies". As far as I know, the only registrar of .EDU domains is EduCause. So my question is, how did this guy manage to bypass the restrictions of the .EDU domain?

 

[shockie]

probably some senator's bratty kid ??

 

[AzN]

Registrant:
Psiimond Network Services
c/o Samuel Hills
12 Highbury Avenue
Layton, Blackpool FY3 7DL
UNITED KINGDOM

Doesnt seem like an educational center to me.

 

[rontol]

cheat code? heh

 

[shopperx]

Thats what i call unique style.. I always wanted to reg a .gov domain for my personal page..

 

[YesBrilliant]

In fact there is a legal way to do that, I was told. Unfortunatelly I was Not told which way was that. I would like to know as well.

Anyway, quite concerning is that the new registrant is a British company, not American. Just this fact sould be enough to cancel that registration.

Note: By checking its backlinks, there are a few about HACKERS...

:o

 

[tjoseph]

He is not a new registrant. Apparently he registered the domain before the current rules took affect and was grandfathered in. See Psiimond Network Services (pns.edu) in this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.edu

Tom

 

[lazyleo]

i also want a edu or gov domain for my personal blog!

 

[_FLIP_]

I wonder how much those .edu domains that the non-qualifying institutions reg'd are worth if they sold it.

 

[samspin]

Hello, I'm answering your questions

Hello, I am the one holding "pns.edu", and I found this forum page in my "referrers" on my sites stats, so I thought I'd come and let you know how I got it. There is a rule in the FAQ http://www.educause.edu/edudomain/show_faq.asp?code=EDUCURRENT#faq188 on EDUCAUSE's site that says:
---
Question: I already have a domain name in the .edu domain. Can I change it to something else?
Answer: Yes. All current holders of .edu domain names will be allowed to change their name to a different name that is available at the time of the request. Names issued other than those grandfathered must meet the conditions of Amendment 6 of the Cooperative Agreement between EDUCAUSE and the Department of Commerce. In particular, they must reasonably represent the name of the Registrant, may not be deployed to identify any organization other than the Registrant, and may not be “generic names”.
---
I originally registered "netreading.edu", which was grandfathered when EDUCAUSE took over .EDU, but I used the above rule to have it replaced with "pns.edu".

I am sure I am not the only one who used that rule, have a look at the whois of "internet.edu" for example- registered July 2003, and to someone in Portugal. The one who holds that domain must have had "proensino.edu" grandfathered, and had it renamed the same way, but just before the DOC issued a new rule on July 25th 2003 saying all new names have to reasonably represent name of the registrant, and that .EDU names cannot be sold (well, "internet.edu" does not represent the "proensino" registrant name in the whois, does it?).
If you have any more questions, let me know.

 

[lazyleo]

Hello, I am the one holding "pns.edu", and I found this forum page in my "referrers" on my sites stats, so I thought I'd come and let you know how I got it. There is a rule in the FAQ http://www.educause.edu/edudomain/show_faq.asp?code=EDUCURRENT#faq188 on EDUCAUSE's site that says:
---
Question: I already have a domain name in the .edu domain. Can I change it to something else?
Answer: Yes. All current holders of .edu domain names will be allowed to change their name to a different name that is available at the time of the request. Names issued other than those grandfathered must meet the conditions of Amendment 6 of the Cooperative Agreement between EDUCAUSE and the Department of Commerce. In particular, they must reasonably represent the name of the Registrant, may not be deployed to identify any organization other than the Registrant, and may not be “generic names”.
---
I originally registered "netreading.edu", which was grandfathered when EDUCAUSE took over .EDU, but I used the above rule to have it replaced with "pns.edu".

I am sure I am not the only one who used that rule, have a look at the whois of "internet.edu" for example- registered July 2003, and to someone in Portugal. The one who holds that domain must have had "proensino.edu" grandfathered, and had it renamed the same way, but just before the DOC issued a new rule on July 25th 2003 saying all new names have to reasonably represent name of the registrant, and that .EDU names cannot be sold (well, "internet.edu" does not represent the "proensino" registrant name in the whois, does it?).
If you have any more questions, let me know.

cool :D thanks for the info...wanna sell it?

 

[samspin]

No way!

No, I am NOT wanting to sell my domain. I have come to rely on it for email and IM'ing. Other domains link to it in nameserver configurations, and it would be a nightmare telling all my friends and family to change nameservers, and switching to a new site. Even if I wanted to sell it, I can't, because EDUCAUSE policy states that .EDU names cannot be sold, leased, loaned, traded, assigned, or in any other way transferred. If in any way caught (for example, if the registrant name does not match the contents of the site at the domain), then a postal letter will arrive stating that the domain will be suspended and deleted for breach of policy, unless you contact EDUCAUSE management via phone "within 15 days to discuss the situation" (have a look at ".EDU policy" on their site for more about this procedure).
Besides that, my .EDU name is a very useful thing for me to have. I can get free SSL certificates for it since it's .EDU (at http://certs.ipsca.com ) and I have gained alot of respect for it. Not many outside of America have one, let alone one that isn't educational.

 

[T-S]

Re: Anyway, quite concerning is that the new registrant is a British company, not American. Just this fact sould be enough to cancel that registration.

Hi YesBrilliant!

We are going to apply for our .edu quite soon and no one even though of moving to the States for that. We are a new linguisic organisation (run by volunteers only) and although we have members on six continents, no one ever told us we have to be registered in the US to apply for .edu - or do you have a patent for education over there? If you know more than we do, please let us know (address listed on our site).

Let's hope you do not feel like closing down Australia.edu for the same 'patriotic' reason?

T-S Support Team



WWW.TONGUE-SWAP.ORG - It's not what you think!

 

[Jackie]

This is one of the things I find to be very special about NamePros. It is very cool to meet people with these special domains at one of the places and in the way you would least expect.