The American telecommunication company, Sorenson Communication, has forgotten to renew a domain name for only a few days in June 2016. The decision has fallen at the end of September 2017, Sorenson Communication has to pay a fine of 3 million dollars. Why such a high amount?
The domain name which has fallen back into public domain was carrying a critical service for some users! It was the “Video Relay System” which telecommunication companies must provide to deaf people and persons with vocal disabilities, so they can make video calls and contact the 911 USA emergency number, by using sign language. Utah residents with these disabilities were unable to reach 911 for 3 days!
Sorenson Communication indeed realized rather late its omission and ended up renewing the domain name only 3 days later.
But this kind of omission can be easily prevented, thanks to the “automatic renewal” option for all your domain names portfolio. Your critical domain names, carrying services, website and/or mailboxes, will not be interrupted by a simple renewal omission.
On the fine of $3 million, 252 000$ are transferred to “The Federal Communication Commission” and $2.7 million to the company of “Telecommunications Relay Services Fund”, which has found a temporary solution to rent its bandwidth during these 3 sensitive days.
