BT Cellnet web blunder could be the last

NEWS The domain name governing body, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), is considering new rules to help domain name owners who have accidentally let their registrations lapse. The news follows a high profile howler last week in which mmO2, formerly BT Cellnet, saw its email-to-SMS service stop working because it forgot to renew its registration for its domain name. Icann is proposing a 30-day grace period in which domains are held for the original owner even after they've been deleted. Icann said the system currently falls down because domain owners simply forget to renew registration, often because of a communication failure with the company that sold them the domain. However, the new proposal if adopted would not have saved BT's blushes - under the scheme an affected domain would still go down to let the holder know its licence had expired.