I know it's a little late for a follow-up...

Netcraft: Panix Hijack Prompts ICANN Review of Resellers' Role

Apparently Melbourne IT had their Reseller authenticate the transfer request on their behalf, and they failed to verify legitimacy.

While I find that the new current transfer process does make it easier to complete transfers, end users are still confused by the rules and obligations involved. Especially those, who just want their service provider to take care of any technical issues, and just want the services to work.

A possible solution is to list the reseller as the admin contact, which seems to common practice in Britain. The only downside is that if the reseller goes out of business or 'turns evil', it might take a bit of effort on the registrant's end to re-gain control of the domain name.

For registration service providers and their customers a seamless from one registrar to another is desirable.

In the end, who are we doing all of this for? Is it not our business to make things as easy for the consumers/end users as possible.