[council] Registration Abuse Policies Working Group Publishes Initial Report

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

[To: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Please note:

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-12feb10-en.htm

Public Comment: Registration Abuse Addressed

Registration Abuse Policies Working Group Publishes Initial Report

12 February 2010

The Registration Abuse Policies Working Group has published its Initial Report 
today. The Report includes concrete recommendations to address domain name 
registration abuse in gTLDs for Community consideration and input. Included are 
recommendations related to:

Cybersquatting: recommending the initiation of a Policy Development Process to 
investigate the current state of the UDRP. 

Whois access problems: seeking ways to ensure that WHOIS data is accessible in 
an appropriately reliable, enforceable, and consistent fashion; and requesting 
that the ICANN Compliance Department publish data about WHOIS accessibility. 

Malicious use of domain names: recommending the creation of best practices to 
help registrars and registries address the illicit use of domain names. 

Front-running: recommending possible enforcement actions by ICANN Compliance 

Fake renewal notices 

Domain kiting 

Deceptive and/or offensive domain names 

Uniformity of contracts: recommending the creation of an Issues Report to 
evaluate whether a minimum baseline of registration abuse provisions should be 
created for all in-scope ICANN agreements.
 
GNSO-wide practices for the collection and dissemination of best practices, and 
for uniformity of reporting. 

At the same time, a public comment period has been opened to allow for 
Community input and feedback on the report and its recommendation (to submit 
comments, please go to: rap-initial-report@xxxxxxxxx). 

Comments can be submitted until 28 March 2010. 
Furthermore, the Working Group will be organizing a public information session 
at the ICANN Meeting in Nairobi. 
After reviewing and analyzing the public comments received, the Working Group 
will finalize the report and submit it to the Generic Names Supporting 
Organisation (GNSO) for its consideration.

Background

On 25 September 2008, the GNSO Council adopted a motion requesting an issues 
report on registration abuse provisions in registry-registrar agreements. The 
issues report was submitted to the GNSO Council on 29 October 2008 and provides 
an overview of existing provisions in registry-registrar agreements relating to 
abuse and includes a number of recommended next steps. In December 2009, the 
GNSO Council agreed to charter a Working Group to investigate the open issues 
identified in Registration Abuse Policies report, before deciding on whether or 
not to initiate a Policy Development Process (PDP). A Registration Abuse 
Policies Working Group (RAPWG) was chartered in February 2009. The GNSO Council 
committed to not making a decision on whether or not to initiate a PDP on 
registration abuse policies until the RAPWG has presented its findings.

Further information

Registration Abuse Policies Working Group Initial Report - 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/rap-wg-initial-report-12feb10-en.pdf [PDF, 1.8 MB]

Registration Abuse Policies Workspace - https://st.icann.org/reg-abuse-wg/

ICANN Meeting in Nairobi - http://nbo.icann.org/

Public Comment Forum - 
http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#rap-initial-report

Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://gnso.icann.org