Re: [ga] Did ICANN and Verisign cut a deal? WLS for SiteFinder?

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

George and all former DNSO GA members of other interested
stakeholders/users,

  Well George, ICANN has shown starting in '99 with the WIPO and than
again at MDR 2000 to be susceptible to high brown vices <read grease>
and make "Deals" in our names without or consent in advance or even
knowledge.  ICANN's setting itself up for frequent damage control
later due to very poor foresight is not a new or any longer, surprising
development.  And much more of this to come to be sure...

  So making behind the scenes "Deals" such as you suggest with
WLS, which the stakeholders/users were very clear as to not
liking, for a "Temporary" suspension of Site Finder is should come
as no big surprise.  However if true, all of the ICANN BoD has
yet again shafted the stakeholder/user for expediency and
face saving.

George Kirikos wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Given that there's another controversial matter that VeriSign wants
> ICANN to "give" on, namely WLS, I wonder whether ICANN and VeriSign
> have cut a deal, horse-trading WLS fast-track approval on favourable
> terms to VeriSign, in exchange for a SiteFinder suspension.
>
> For instance, despite ICANN "warning" VeriSign not to use an October
> 27th launch date for WLS, they still do so at:
>
> https://www.nextregistrationrights.com/backorder.sn
>
> That "warning" might have been a charade, though, for their defense of
> the the legal case against them (see www.stopwls.com), as it seemed
> very half-hearted. Given the warning was made almost a month ago:
>
> http://www.icann.org/correspondence/twomey-letter-to-gomes-04sep03.htm
>
> and ICANN is not enforcing VeriSign's obligations, it leads me to
> believe that the delay might be a result of continuing "negotiations"
> on how to put the best public "spin" on things, for VeriSign to get
> what it truly wants. It only takes 2 minutes to edit a website, but I
> can imagine a month's delay, given the "need" for lawyers to stretch
> out negotiations at fancy restaurants, etc., all on the registrants'
> bill (it is domain name registrants who ultimately fund all of ICANN).
>
> If ICANN wants to prove that it is not a paper tiger, and that it has
> not been "captured" by VeriSign and is simply a front for the VeriSign
> PR machine, it should immediately announce that:
>
> 1) they are allowing the Independent Review Panel to review WLS, as had
> been requested formally by Dotster in 2002 (and which ICANN refused)
>
> 2) they will not submit contract amendments for WLS to the Department
> of Commerce until such time as the legal case before the courts is
> concluded, and/or Consensus Approval of the proposed service is
> achieved.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> George Kirikos
> http://www.kirikos.com/

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 131k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
    Pierre Abelard
===============================================================
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Contact Number: 214-244-4827 or 214-244-3801