RE: .name WHOIS accuracy (was Re: [ga] repost: Domain not available)

["Gomes, Chuck" <cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hugo,

First of all let me apologise for the frustrating experience.  Second, let me 
give a little history.  And third, let me explain what happened in this 
instance.

Global Name Registry, the original registry operator for .name, put the surname 
'Mafalda' on the .name Reserved  Common Names List as permitted by  Appendix 6 
Part I of the .name Registry Agreement. The purpose of the Reserved Common 
Names List is to not permit a common surname, such as "Smith", to be registered 
at the 2nd level  thereby  allowing  more individuals the ability to  obtain  
registrations at the 3rd level and/or Email Forwarding IDs  with their surname. 
Before the Reserved Common Names List was created and the restrictions built 
into the .name platform to prevent 2nd level domains from using any of those 
reserved surnames on the List, registrants could register those names and did. 
This happened with 'mafalda.name' resulting in the following registration 
history:

1.      It was registered on 27 May 2005 via eNom and deleted on 14 September 
2005.

2.      It was re-registered on 16 September 2005 via Key-Systems and deleted 
on 30 October 2012.
Domain names that were registered prior to their inclusion on the Reserved 
Common Names List are grandfathered, meaning this: so long as the domains 
remain registered, they are exempt from the policy. However, if a domain name 
that has been placed on the Reserved Common Names List is not renewed and is 
deleted, the system will not permit the domain name to be re-registered at the 
second level. The name(s) would be available only as a part of 3rd level 
registrations.

Usually, when a Whois look-up is done for say 'smith.name' from the Reserved 
Common Names List the following message appears:

"Not available for second level registration.  Third level registrations may be 
available on this shared name."

What we learned this week is that when a grandfathered domain is deleted that 
is on the Reserved List, the Whois provides this message: "No match".  We are 
investigating how and when we can fix this so the standard message is provided 
when grandfathered domains are deleted (i.e., "Not available for second level 
registration. Third level registrations may be available on this shared name.").

We want to assure everyone that no registrar is doing domain squatting in this 
instance.  All .name registrars have been provided with access to the full list 
of surnames that have been reserved. The registrar provided correct information 
to the prospective registrant but did not appear to explain what happens after 
a grandfathered 2nd level name is deleted.

Finally, let me say that we are investigating why there was not a timely 
response to the concerns that were communicated to improve service levels in 
the future.

Chuck Gomes, Vice President, Policy


From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
Hugo Monteiro
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 9:16 AM
To: George Kirikos
Cc: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Oracle-Info-DL
Subject: Re: .name WHOIS accuracy (was Re: [ga] repost: Domain not available)

Hello George,

I should have said Verisign. I contacted Verisign, through their live chat 
support at the time, not Network Solutions. My bad.

It is odd. Even more that they already had almost 3 months to correct the whois 
database and that didn't happen.
I also found the earlier response troubling. "Yes, it used to be registered but 
now we decided that it would be reserved for 3rd level registration only. But 
it's also not available for 3rd level registration right now. It's on a special 
reserved list for now."
That was 2 and a half months ago.

I'm Cc'ing this to the email contact and see if it gets anywhere...

Regards,

Hugo Monteiro.


On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 1:53 PM, George Kirikos 
<gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Hugh,

Network Solutions isn't the operator of .name -- I believe that you should 
contact VeriSign:

http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/products-and-services/domain-names/name/index.xhtml


If you look at the WHOIS for smith.name<http://smith.name>, it says:

http://whois-search.com/whois/smith.name

"Not available for second level registration.
Third level registrations may be available on this shared name."

Performing the same WHOIS lookup for mafalda.name<http://mafalda.name>:

http://whois-search.com/whois/mafalda.name

"No match."


If mafalda.name<http://mafalda.name> really is reserved for 3rd-level 
registrations, it's odd that the WHOIS isn't similar to that of 
smith.name<http://smith.name>. VeriSign should either correct the WHOIS 
database, or let you register the name. You might also try using the WHOIS Data 
Problem Reporting System:

http://wdprs.internic.net/

Sincerely,

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



________________________________
From: Hugo Monteiro <hugo.monteiro@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:hugo.monteiro@xxxxxxxxxx>>
To: "ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>" 
<ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 2:58 AM
Subject: [ga] repost: Domain not available


This is a repost of a message i sent to 
compliance@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:compliance@xxxxxxxxx>, which apparently is the 
proper address to report these kind of activities. This repost, into this list, 
is happening since the original message was sent six days ago and i have not 
received any response, not even an automated aknowledgement.

--- snip ---

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have tried to register the domain mafalda.name<http://mafalda.name> on 
October 31 of 2012.
It was a domain name that was registered by someone else and that had let the 
registry expire.
I have checked the domain availability by querying the whois database, which 
confirmed me that the domain name was not found on the database.
I have tried to register the domain through two different registrars. They both 
accepted my registry submission but later have told me that the domain was not 
available after all.
I have submitted this issue to the GA mailing list and received response from 
Mr Atif Beg telling me to further inquire the reasons of this behaviour and to 
submit this complain if i was to find that there was evidence of non compliance 
(~PDW-469171).
My further inquiry was directly made to Network Solutions, which manages the 
.name space and i was told, back then, that the particular domain was being 
reserved for third level registrations only. That was not the case for the 
previous registration since the second level domain 
mafalda.name<http://mafalda.name> was registered by someone else before.
It's now the 10th of January, two and a half months have gone by, and still 
that domain is not listed on the whois database and i still cannot register it 
either. This behavior is unacceptable and Network Solutions is performing 
domain squatting in the hopes that there are many interested parties so that 
they can market the domain for third level registration only.
Please take the appropriate actions so that the domain name 
mafalda.name<http://mafalda.name> gets available for registration, like it 
already should be, by now.

Best Regards,

Hugo Monteiro.

--- snip ---


Again, i can't stress how unfortunate all these matters are.

Best regards,

Hugo Monteiro.

--
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Hugo Monteiro
Email    : hugo.monteiro@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:hugo.monteiro@xxxxxxxxxx>
Telefone : +351 212947894<tel:%2B351%20212947894>
                +351 212948300 Ext.15307<tel:%2B351%20212948300%20Ext.15307>

Divisão de Informática
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da
                  Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Quinta da Torre   2829-516 Caparica   Portugal
Telefone: +351 212947894<tel:%2B351%20212947894>   Fax: +351 
212948548<tel:%2B351%20212948548>
www.fct.unl.pt<http://www.fct.unl.pt>                
apoio@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:apoio@xxxxxxxxxx>

fct.unl.pt:~# _



--
fct.unl.pt:~# cat .signature

Hugo Monteiro
Email    : hugo.monteiro@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:hugo.monteiro@xxxxxxxxxx>
Telefone : +351 212947894
                +351 212948300 Ext.15307

Divisão de Informática
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da
                  Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Quinta da Torre   2829-516 Caparica   Portugal
Telefone: +351 212947894   Fax: +351 212948548
www.fct.unl.pt<http://www.fct.unl.pt>                
apoio@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:apoio@xxxxxxxxxx>

fct.unl.pt:~# _