Re: [ga] An open letter to Fadi Chehade: UDRP, URS, Lack of Contracts and Forum Shopping

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

To followup, note others are picking up on this issue, and the lack of 
satisfaction with ICANN's note. See the blog article and comments at:

http://www.thedomains.com/2013/07/20/the-ica-forces-icann-to-issue-a-status-report-on-udrpurs-providers-uniformity-of-process/

As I noted there, one can use the fair division of an apple pie as a simple 
analogy. 

Suppose Fadi and I both like apple pie, and we want to split it fairly. We have 
a knife. What would be the “fair way” to divide the pie, to ensure each gets an 
even piece. One option is for Fadi to cut it, and Fadi to pick the piece. 
Obviously he would make one piece very large, the other small, and then he’d 
pick the larger piece. After you explore a few other options, you’d likely 
stumble upon the (somewhat obvious) optimal solution for fairness — namely, one 
person divides the pie, and the other person picks the piece. Clearly, the 
person dividing the pie would make both pieces the same size, if the other 
person gets to pick the piece.

In the ICANN world, though, ICANN “sets the framework for providers” (i.e. 
compliance with the UDRP standard and rules), so it’s the one wielding the 
knife (supposedly dividing things to ensure fairness). But, then the ones 
subject to the policy (i.e. domain registrants) aren’t given the opportunity to 
pick amongst the providers (who are all supposed to have met the standard), 
which is akin to picking the piece of pie they want. If ICANN was acting 
properly, all the providers would meet the standards, so they’d pretty much be 
the same, just like the pieces of the apple pie above. Instead, some third 
party complainant (who benefits if the piece of the pie is bigger for 
themselves) picks the piece they want. Thus we see the huge issue of forum 
shopping, where complainants, through ICANN ignoring obvious problems at 
providers, continue to see things shifted in their favour, while registrants 
get the short end of the stick (or smaller piece of the
 pie, an injustice).


To go back to the apple pie analogy, it’s even worse, as ICANN takes the knife 
and instead of cutting the pie evenly, they simply take the knife and stab 
registrants repeatedly, leaving 100% of the pie for themselves. 


Sincerely,

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