Well, blame the law-enforcement agencies: they're the ones that forced ICANN's hand on this. The registrars, particularly the European ones, fought back, and th

Well, blame the law-enforcement agencies: they're the ones that forced ICANN's hand on this. The registrars, particularly the European ones, fought back, and the policy is nowhere near as bad as it once was going to be. However, even before now, you could easily lose your domain due to a missed email. For instance, if you don't have your domain on autorenew, it can end up in redemption (which is expensive), and eventually deleted. And, as of the 2013 RAA, if you don't renew your domain, your registrar is required to park the domain with a non-renewal notice a few days after its expiration date. Fun, eh?