[ga] PUBLICROOT REPRESENTATIVE NOTICE - VALIDATION OF AKZO-NOBEL AND AKZONOBEL TLDS FAILED

[Joe Baptista <baptista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following notice is permanently indexed at the following URL:

http://www.publicroot.org/correspondence/PR-NOTICE-Sept-21-2007.pdf

PUBLICROOT REPRESENTATIVE NOTICE

VALIDATION OF AKZO-NOBEL AND AKZONOBEL TLDS FAILED
September 21, 2007


This is a public notice to the Inclusive Name Space community and other
interested third parties. Distribution of this notice is encouraged and
unlimited. This notice shall be distributed to the Directors of the Top
Level Domain Association, INAIC (Internet Names Authorization &
Information Center), UN1D (Unified Names #1 Distributor), the Federal
Trade Commission, Akzo Nobel and various community lists. A permanent
copy of this notice shall be posted to the PublicRoot Consortium web site.


Investigation and findings:

The PublicRoot Representative conducted an investigation and audit into
the creation and publication of two INS (Inclusive Name Space) TLD
(Top-Level Domain) labels being “AKZO-NOBEL” and “AKZONOBEL”. INAIC
published these two TLDs to the INS on May 28, 2007. The TLDs are active
for a term of five years and both expire on May 28, 2012. The whois
records at INAIC show Akzo Nobel B.V., a multinational company
incorporated in the Netherlands, is listed as the official registrant of
these two TLDs.

On May 29, 2007 INAIC further published these two TLDs to the INAIC news
list. This is an email distribution list. The email announcement from
INAIC claims that “Akzo Nobel is a Global Fortune 500 company and is
listed on both the Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ stock exchanges. It is
also listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and the FTSE4Good
Index. Akzo Nobel is another fine example of a global corporation that
recognizes the importance of securing its own Corporate TLD in the
Public-Root”. A copy of this notice is attached as an exhibit.

The PublicRoot Representative contacted Akzo Nobel on September 5, 2007
to validate both TLDs. The PublicRoot Representative attempted to
contact the administrative representative responsible for the TLDs as
per the published whois records at INAIC. This record shows the
registrant and administrative contact to be a H. Wansink of Akzo Nobel
N.V., and the mailing address is given as Velperweg 76, Arnhem, Gld,
6824 BM in the Netherlands.

The Akzo Nobel switchboard operator did not have a H. Wansink listed in
her corporate directory, but she did have a G. Wansink. This is a minor
error in the whois records concerning the correct spelling of the
alleged contact name.

The PublicRoot Representative contacted Mr. Wansink. Mr. Wansink had no
knowledge of any TLD registrations made by or on behalf of Akzo Nobel
with INAIC. The PublicRoot Representative was referred to the IT
Department who also advised they had no knowledge of these TLD
registrations or INAIC. IT also advised that Mr. Wansink would never be
recorded or listed as a contact on any domain registration. IT then
referred me to the Intellectual Property Department at Akzo Nobel.

The PublicRoot Representative then contacted Ms. Kadijk, a legal council
with the Intellectual Property Department at Akzo Nobel. Ms. Kadijk was
asked if Akzo Nobel authorized the creation and publication of the INS
TLD labels “AKZO-NOBEL” and “AKZONOBEL” with INAIC.com or any agent of
INAIC.

Ms. Kadijk investigated the claims by INAIC. On September 21, 2007, the
PublicRoot Representative was told by Akzo Nobel legal council that Akzo
Nobel DID NOT AUTHORIZE INAIC nor any agent of INAIC.com (a.k.a.
UN1D.com), to create or publish in the DNS (Domain Name System) or whois
the INS TLD labels “AKZO-NOBEL” or “AKZONOBEL”.

The PublicRoot Representative therefore finds that the INAIC whois
records for “AKZO-NOBEL” and “AKZONOBEL” are bogus INS TLD records. The
current whois records for “AKZO-NOBEL” and “AKZONOBEL” are attached to
this notice as exhibits.

The PublicRoot Representative then provided a verbal request to Martijn
Burger, chairman of the INAIC society and foundation, that Herman Xennt,
operator of INAIC.com, immediately remove all references to TLD labels
“AKZO-NOBEL” and “AKZONOBEL” from the public DNS infrastructure and
whois service. The PublicRoot Representative warns INAIC.com that the
continued display of trademarks and brands names without authorization
is a fraudulent act.

During the investigation the PublicRoot Representative contacted Martijn
Burger and asked if he would confirm the registration of the labels at
issue. Burger then contacted Herman Xennt of INAIC.com and asked him to
investigate the whois records. Herman Xennt is the sole controller of
INAIC.com. Burger asked him if the records were correct. Xennt responded
that the record should be correct for the “AKZO-NOBEL” and “AKZONOBEL”
TLD labels. Furthermore Xennt advised Burger that he would contact UN1D
and ask that they determine the accuracy of the TLD registrations.

There has been no further response on this from Burger or Xennt. On
September 21, 2007 the PublicRoot Representative asked Burger to have
Herman Xennt provide supporting evidence of the TLD registrations,
including accounting records of any payments made for the “AKZO-NOBEL”
and “AKZONOBEL” TLD labels.


Legal Concerns:

The mission of the PublicRoot Representative is to ensure the integrity
of the data and claims made in the INS. The system must at all times be
operated in an honest, open, transparent fashion. It must be inclusive,
representative & accountable to community stakeholders in particular and
in general to the Internet community at large.

The PublicRoot Representative expresses concern that INAIC, a body
claiming to be an INS provider and wrongly claiming to be the central
INS authority, is engaged in an unfair and deceptive business act or
practice. INAIC has used Akzo Nobel trademarks and brand names to
further the sale of INS TLDs through INAIC.com and it’s agents.

Furthermore consumers who find the multinational company Akzo Nobel
associated with an INS TLD assume falsely that INAIC.com or its agents
are credible. TLD Holders who have purchased TLDs under this false
assumption are victims of a scam by INAIC.com.

Furthermore the act of listing bogus TLD labels in the whois and DNS by
INAIC is considered by the PublicRoot Representative to be Internet
fraud. This act causes harm to the reputation and credibility of the INS
community at large.

Furthermore from a technical point of view the PublicRoot Representative
is concerned that these labels use the INAIC.com web proxy to effect
resolution for INS users. This represents a potential security issue
known as a man in the middle attack. Web users connecting to
unauthorized INS TLD labels can have their personal information compromised.


Actions Taken and Requested:

The PublicRoot Representative requests that INAIC.com remove all
references to the “AKZO-NOBEL” and “AKZONOBEL” TLD labels from their web
sites, whois databases and DNS records.

The PublicRoot Representative further requests that the Directors of the
Top Level Domain Association investigate this breach of trust by
INAIC.com and it’s agents. The PublicRoot Representative hereby submits
this notice as a complaint to the Top Level Domain Association.

The PublicRoot Representative further requests that the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection file this notice as an
fraud-related complaint and that the complaint be entered into Consumer
Sentinel online database available to civil and criminal law enforcement
agencies worldwide.

This notice, complaint and any requests made in this document are on
behalf of the PublicRoot Representative who assumes full responsibility
for this publication. Akzo Nobel did not participate in its publication
except to provide the PublicRoot Representative with evidence on the INS
TLD registrations claimed by INAIC.



PublicRoot Representative Notice
Submitted by Joe Baptista

PublicRoot Representative
5921 Agean Drive
Mississauga, Ontario L5M 6Y3, Canada

Tel: +1 (360) 526-6077 / +1 (202) 517-1593
Fax: +1 (509) 479-0084
Email: baptista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx



--
Joe Baptista                                www.publicroot.org
PublicRoot Consortium
----------------------------------------------------------------
The future of the Internet is Open, Transparent, Inclusive,
Representative & Accountable to the Internet community @large.
----------------------------------------------------------------
  Office: +1 (202) 517-1593
     Fax: +1 (509) 479-0084


begin:vcard
fn:Joe Baptista
n:Baptista;Joe
org:PublicRoot Consortium
adr:;;963 Ford Street;Peterborough;Ontario;K9J 5V5 ;Canada
email;internet:baptista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
title:PublicRoot Representative
tel;fax:+1 (509) 479-0084 
tel;cell:+1 (416) 912-6551
x-mozilla-html:FALSE
url:http://www.publicroot.org
version:2.1
end:vcard