transfering domain name help.

Hello,

I'm the owner of certain domain that is hosted in a VPS. I bought my domain name along with vps service in a hosting company (I won't reveal the hosting nor my domain for privacy).
I am not a programmer, I don't understand any of php programming whatsoever. I bought a directory (sort of yellowpage script) to run in my vps.

Around april 09 my site was suspended. I contacted the hosting company and asked them why. They told me that my site was hosting certain scripts that tended to hack phone numbers. I asked for the log file that showed illegal activities and I have not received any email from the VPS support regarding this. It is funny right? I don't understand programming and I was told nothing about the issue, and what causing them. I'm like walking in the dark. So, I address the issue to the author of that script. I explained what happened and I told them what scripts I hosted on my VPS. In that time, I hosted mailling list scripts and joomla (both are open source scripts). So, with the author advise, I remove mailing list and joomla scripts.
I contacted the VPS support, and then they resumed my service.

On June 23rd, my site was suspended again. They told me that I've been warned about such scripts in the past. I did comply by deleting those mailing lists and joomla files. But, again... My guess was wrong. Those files are not causing that problem. A cron function inside directory script which updates coordinates for google maps (which is a basic feature from the script) is causing it. But, it was too late. They choose not to continue my service with them and they blamed me to pay all the damage cost which I made (they told me many customer were cancelling their service because of me). They give me options either to pay the damage cost or they blocking me from downloading back my scripts (by this, I assume that I can't transfer my domain to new host).

I explained this to INTERNIC too, but in the mean time... I would like to have different point of view from other webmasters.
Is it possible to transfer my domain to new host? If yes, how?

Thank you very much.

 

If you purchased the domain name through them, you own the domain name. However, as far as the scripts, you may have to give those up because they can give trumped up reasons such as data lost or etc. That is why some hosting companies charge extra for to them to generate backups because if something happens to your data and they lose it, they assume you have a local backup yourself.

Long story short, you own the domain name, they are obligated to let you transfer it to a different domain registrar.

 

Unfortunately it's not always as simple as that. I handled a gazillion ownership
dispute cases in my previous registrar life, and not once has it been easy.

Elytsynos, I have some questions for you to check: a) who is the registrant of
the domain name, b) whose administrative contact email address is listed, and
c) is the domain name with a registrar or a so-called reseller for one?

I ask these because the answers to those can answer your first question. We
all like to think we own something just because we buy it from another, but it
isn't always that way if your legal agreements especially spell out one another
rights, responsibilities and relationships.

If: a) you're the listed registrant, b) your email address is listed there, and c)
the domain name is with a reseller, then you talk to the reseller about possibly
transferring the domain name out.

If a and b are the same but c) the domain name is with a registrar, then talk
to the registrar and explain you've had no positive response from the reseller.
Depending on the registrar's agreements with the reseller, though, they might
or might not help you and refer you back to them.

If: a) you're not the listed registrant and the host is, and b) their email is the
one in the domain's WHOIS, then unfortunately it's not good. The host is, for
all intents, considered the so-called legal owner of the domain name unless it
is disputed with the proper resolution system. (i.e. court)

Bottom line, it depends who's managing the domain name and who's listed as
its owner. I'm sure lots of people won't like this, but the host also has the so-
called right to refuse service if one (ex) customer's (unintended) actions had
cost them others, which might include denying access to the domain name if
they themselves are managing it.

In the real world, we're all accountable for what we do, intentional or not.