Woman faces changing 211 accounts after .name domain termination

Among those caught in the crosshairs of this policy change is Judy Johnston, whose recent formal plea to ICANN serves as a poignant illustration of the human cost associated with retiring established digital namespaces. Johnston, who registered her third-level .name domain in 2002, has maintained the address for nearly twenty-five years. For Johnston and her 97-year-old mother, the domain is not merely a technical asset; it is the foundation of their digital lives. Both women use the domain for their primary email addresses, a service that has remained consistent through the evolution of the web from its early days to the modern era. Now, as the termination looms, Johnston describes the task of migrating her digital footprint as a "full-time daily job" that has already consumed weeks of her life.

The complexity of the situation stems from the sheer volume of accounts tied to a single email address. Johnston has identified at least 211 separate online accounts that must be manually updated before the domain is permanently decommissioned. In the modern digital ecosystem, an email address serves as the "master key" for identity verification. When that key is scheduled for destruction, the process of replacing it is rarely as simple as clicking a settings button. Johnston notes that the transition has been fraught with bureaucratic hurdles. Because many of her accounts are decades old, the security protocols required to change a primary email address have become increasingly stringent.

In her reconsideration request filed with ICANN, Johnston detailed the friction she has encountered while attempting to secure her digital legacy. Some service providers, wary of potential fraud or unauthorized account takeovers, are requiring her to submit multiple forms of physical identification and complete exhaustive data protection forms just to update her contact information. For a senior citizen managing her own affairs and those of her nearly centenarian mother, these requirements represent a significant barrier. The physical and mental labor involved in documenting and verifying one’s identity across hundreds of platforms is a consequence of policy decisions made in corporate boardrooms and international policy forums, often with little regard for the practicalities of the end-user experience.

The .name top-level domain (TLD) was originally launched in 2002 with a unique structure. Unlike common domains like .com or .org, .name was specifically designed for individuals. The initial rollout favored a "third-level" structure, such as john.doe.name, which allowed for a more personalized and hierarchical approach to personal branding on the internet. For years, this was the standard for the TLD. However, as the domain industry evolved and second-level registrations (e.g., doe.name) became the norm, the older third-level structure was viewed by some as a legacy relic. The decision to terminate these third-level registrations is part of a broader effort by Verisign, the registry operator, and ICANN, the global coordinator, to phase out what they perceive as an outdated system.