Mind Those Domain Names - New ICANN Transfer Policy
Part of an e-mail from my registrar today (emphasis mine):
Under this new ICANN policy, the intent of a domain name registrant to transfer a domain name need not be confirmed with the registrar from which the domain name is being transferred. In fact, under the new policy if we are notified you want to transfer a domain name registered with pairNIC to another registrar and we ask you or the administrative contact to confirm a transfer request and neither of you respond to the confirmation request, pairNIC must let allow the transfer to proceed. pairNIC is concerned this may lead to unauthorized transfers of domain names.
To prevent unauthorized transfers, make sure your domain names are in “Transfer Lock” status. Check with your registrar for more details.
You can read the full ICANN policy at: http://www.icann.org/transfers/