[ga] [INS TLD HILTON] PUBLICROOT REPRESENTATIVE NOTICE - VALIDATION OF .HILTON INS TLD FAILED

[Joe Baptista <baptista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following notice (and exhibits) are permanently indexed at the
following URL:

http://www.publicroot.org/correspondence/PR-NOTICE-Oct-11-2007.pdf

The following is an ascii copy of the notice. It does not contain any
exhibits. Exhibits are contained in the published notice as per the URL
given above.


PUBLICROOT REPRESENTATIVE NOTICE

VALIDATION OF HILTON TLD FAILED
October 11, 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), the Federal Trade Commission, Hilton Hotels
Corporation 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 the INS (Inclusive Name Space) TLD
(Top-Level Domain) label “HILTON”. INAIC published this TLD to the INS
on September 2, 2007. The TLD is active for a term of ten years and
expires on September 2, 2017. The whois records at INAIC show Hilton
Hotels Corporation, a multinational company based in Beverly Hills,
California, United States, as the official registrant of this TLD.

The PublicRoot Representative contacted Hilton Hotels Corporation on
October 4, 2007 to validate the TLD. 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
Stephen F. Bollenbach of Hilton Hotels Corporation, and the mailing
address is given as 9336 Civic Center Drive, Beverly Hills, California,
90210 in the United States. Mr. Stephen F. Bollenbach is the Co-Chairman
of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Hilton Hotels Corporation.

The PublicRoot Representative was referred to the legal department at
Hilton Hotels Corporation who investigated the claim by INAIC. On
October 10, 2007 the PublicRoot Representative received an email from M.
Stephanie Mills, Domain Administrator at Hilton Hotels Corporation. Ms.
Mills wrote that “This email is verification that Hilton did not
authorize INAIC or their agent UN1D to register .HILTON”. A copy of this
email is attached to this notice as an exhibit.

The PublicRoot Representative herein acknowledges that Hilton Hotels
Corporation DID NOT AUTHORIZE the creation and publication of the INS
TLD label “HILTON” with either INAIC.com or any agent of INAIC. The
PublicRoot Representative therefore finds that the INAIC whois record
for “HILTON” is a bogus INS TLD record. The current whois record from
INAIC.com for “HILTON” is attached to this notice as an exhibit.

The PublicRoot Representative issued a verbal request on October 10,
2007 to Martijn Burger, chairman of the INAIC society and foundation,
demanding that Herman Xennt, the operator of INAIC.com, immediately
remove the TLD label “HILTON” from the public DNS infrastructure and
whois service at INAIC.com. The PublicRoot Representative warns
INAIC.com that the continued display of trademarks and brands names as
TLDs without authorization is a fraudulent act. Furthermore the use of
the name Stephen F. Bollenbach is considered impersonation and therefore
also fraudulent.


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 and 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 Hilton Hotels Corporation 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 Hilton Hotels
Corporation 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. Hilton Hotels
Corporation has also been a victim in this scam as their trademarks and
brand names have been and are being used without authorization to
further the sale of TLDs.

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
expresses concern that this label uses 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 “HILTON” TLD label 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 a
fraud-related complaint and that the complaint be entered into the
Consumer Sentinel online databases 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. Hilton Hotels Corporation 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

<Signature>

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
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