[ga] PIR's anti-abuse policy for .org offers no due process for innocent domain registrants

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi folks,

PIR, the registry operator for .org, has sent notices to registrars
that it is implementing an anti-abuse policy similar to that of .info
that has previously been discussed on this mailing list and elsewhere.

See:

http://www.thedomains.com/2009/01/06/the-org-registry-adopts-anti-abuse-policy-allows-for-domain-cancellation/
http://opensrs.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=30
http://www.domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=97280
http://www.domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=91572

While it's good intentioned, there is great potential for innocent
domain registrants to suffer harm, given the lack of appropriate
safeguards, the lack of precision and open-ended definition of "abuse",
the sole discretion of the registry operator to delete domains, and the
general lack of due process.

For example, Google was just ranked the third worst spam service
provider:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212700927&subSection=All+Stories

If a similar policy was in place for .com, would VeriSign have the
discretion to delete Google.com?

Wikipedia.org was blacklisted in the UK recently (and temporarily) for
allegations of hosting child pornography, due to a hosted image of an
album cover.

There are numerous other "false positives" stories that we've discussed
previously in the fast-flux working group:

http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-ff-pdp-may08/

PIR has proceeded unilaterally without the input of the public, and
also without regard to the GNSO which is contemplating a PDP for abuse
policies, one that would likely lead to a far more balanced policy that
protects registrants while still permitting the worst abusers to be
targeted. Graduated measures like suspension make more sense than
domain deletions, for example. The age of the domain should be taken
into account (the most abuse comes from freshly registered domains).
With registry operators actively seeking tiered-pricing for domains,
their first goal would be to get it for new registrations, as opposed
to renewals. If they were allowed to get tiered-pricing for new
registrations, there would be a financial incentive to delete the
domains of innocent registrants, as it would be a backdoor way of
increasing their income from the best already-registered domains.

This represents a failure of ICANN when registry operators proceed in
an ad hoc manner, rather than looking out for the interests and safety
of millions of legitimate registrants.

Sincerely,

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