[ga] Potential Danger Ahead for Registrants -- dot-info Abusive Domain Use Policy

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi folks,

ICANN has posted a request by Afilias for a new registry service in
relation to "abusive" domains in dot-info:

http://www.icann.org/registries/rsep/index.html#2008007
http://www.icann.org/registries/rsep/afilias-request-20jun08.pdf

While in general the proposal is motivated by good intentions, the
devil is in the details. While most folks (including myself) probably
care very little about the .info TLD, my concern is that any bad
implementation in .info might be copied or used as a precedent in other
more important TLDs, in particular .com run by VeriSign.

In particular:


"Pursuant to Section 3.6.5 of the RRA, Afilias reserves the right to
deny, **cancel** or transfer any registration or transaction, or place
any domain name(s) on registry lock, hold or similar status, that it
deems necessary, **in its discretion**;........"

(emphasis added)

I would be against giving VeriSign (if the model was copied to .com)
that discretionary power over my company's domains, especially the
"right to cancel." What exactly is "illegal"? In China, I'm sure there
are many things that are illegal that are perfectly legal in Canada,
the USA or the EU. Suppose a domain name gets hacked for a brief time,
and is temporarily used to serve up spam or malware, etc. That company
experiencing bad luck, having their site hacked, can then be put
totally out of business in the event that the registry operator, "in
its discretion," decides to cancel the domain name.

Thus, I think concern should be raised that any implementation be very
conservative in order to protect the inherent right of registrants to
due process. The potential for harm in a bad implementation is
enormous, and companies and individuals could be put out of business if
a valuable domain name is taken from a registrant.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
http://www.kirikos.com/