In the wake of the horrific earthquake and tsunami the Japanese people endured, Domain Registries are doing their part in what they call a “small gesture to alleviate some of the suffering in Japan”.
Because the recent disasters have left many domain registrants without the ability to renew their domain names, many registries are now waiving the renewal fees for one year to protect the registrants from losing their names.
.Me was the first to announce that they were waiving the fees. They will be waiving the renewal fees on all .me domain names that were expired in the March 11-April 30 period. This applies only those registrants where the registrant country address is in Japan. “Although the registry cannot itself renew/extend the names, [they] can waive the registry renewal fees [they] charge to registrars.” The company is requesting that registrars cooperate “in helping to keep additional calamity from befalling [their] Japanese customers.”
.org, .mobi, and .asia are also waiving autorenew fees for Japanese customers.
These announcements come on the heels of other companies in various industries, including some US mobile services providers, waiving fees for Japan.