What is the downside to having my hosting company or domain name registrar as the technical contact for my domain name?
Usually, there's no problem with having the aforementioned entities act as the technical contact for your domain. However, a nasty situation can arise if the Registrar you are using supports email authentication of domain name record changes, and also supports Tech contact denials.
To clarify: in some relatively rare cases, a Registrar may require email confirmation of a requested modification to a domain name record, such as a change of ownership or a change of DNS servers. In this rare case, the email confirmation that must be replied to affirmatively is sent to BOTH the primary contact for the domain (the Owner) and the technical contact for the domain. The problem arises if the technical contact "denies" the transaction by responding negatively to the email before you as the Owner have a chance to respond affirmatively. (For instance if a web hosting company is trying to prevent you leaving their service)
Now, it must be emphasized that the above case is RARE - but it does happen. To protect yourself from such problems, always make sure that YOU (or an entity you trust 100%) is listed as the Technical contact for the domain name - there is no valid reason why your web hosting provider or Registrar MUST be your technical contact, even though they may prefer to have things set up that way. |
