Re: [ga] Out-of-Control

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard and all former DNSO GA members or other interested stakeholders/users,

  ICANN cannot even enforce it's own bylaws upon itself adequately
lest it chooses as it has in the past, to amend it's bylaws retroactively
in order to legitimize its own errors in the violating of those bylaws.
How than, can one reasonably expect ICANN to enforce such a
contract as you suggest towards registrars?

  No what is needed  is a independent oversight group which is made
up of domain name holders and users that has the mandate by
DOC/NTIA to develop and enforce a set of regulations that
the registrars can be held accountable to.  The biggest problem
with this approach is how does one enforce such regulations or
rules upon a registrar that is not a US based company?  One
potential way is to amend the trade agreements in existence
that covers this contingency...  Those countries whom refuse
to adapt such amendments, should be sanctioned by the USTR
in a strong and effective manner without delay..  One way to
impose such sanctions might be to confiscate the financial
assets said country has in the US or in the US's governments
control until or unless those registrars outside the US have come
back into compliance.  If no such financial assets exist, than
the registrars physical assets should be confiscated as well
as their registrar contract canceled immediately.

> Registrars are meant to be agents of supply to the general public in order
> to facilitate "the fair distribution" of the DNS which ICANN's MoU with DoC
> is supposed to guarantee.
>
> They are given access to the registries in order to carry out this function,
> and with this special position of privilege should go responsibility.
>
> It is abundantly clear that what is needed is as follows:
>
> 1. Right of access to registries in order to carry out the function of
> "registrar- supplier" to the public should be *contractually dependent* on
> adhering to a set of stated minimum standards or a code of conduct.
>
> 2. This code of conduct should be drawn up by ICANN and enforced by ICANN
> *as a condition upon which registrars may operate*.
>
> 3. Breach of this code should result in sanctions or the removal of the
> right of access to the registries where it is demonstrable that the code has
> been breached.
>
> ICANN has made the assumption that registrars can regulate themselves. There
> are many decent and hard-working registrars trying to make an honest living.
> However, it is clear that the process of domain name distribution is not
> properly controlled, and that effectively policy is defined by what an
> individual registrar may decide makes pecuniary good sense to them. The
> result is a process (which is supposed to benefit the whole of humanity)
> which Danny correctly describes as "out of control".
>
> ICANN is constantly playing "catch up" because it has always started from
> the erroneous premiss that you should basically just let registrars get on
> with defining their own ways of using or manipulating the supply mechanisms.
>
> ICANN needs to safeguard the supply of the DNS to the public, and to
> guarantee "fair distribution", by making "right of access to the registries"
> conditional upon a consistent set of practices and policies. Only by
> contractually controlling registrars' access to the commodity they purvey
> can ICANN hope to act as an enforcer.
>
> Do I like ICANN having the power and role of an enforcer? No.
>
> But there is no-one else who can do so. As long as the US government bestows
> authority on ICANN to safeguard the DNS for the rest of the world, it is
> ICANN which has to shoulder the responsibility that accompanies the position
> they have been granted.
>
> Strict and clearly defined code of conduct > contractual condition for
> accessing registries> exclusion if code is breached > enforcement
>
> Yrs,
>
> Richard Henderson
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Danny Younger" <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 9:54 PM
> Subject: [ga] Out-of-Control
>
> > The Domain Name Journal has posted an editorial "Time
> > For ICANN to Reign In Out-of-Control Registrars"
> > decrying the current state of the domain name
> > industry.  http://www.dnjournal.com/editorial.htm
> >
> > Meanwhile, on the Registrars Discussion List, we note
> > the following:
> >
> > "Dear Registrars:
> >
> > I would like to report on the unauthorized use of our
> > subnets by a player in the delete pool.
> >
> > It appears that said firm has started playing the game
> > of registering with *no* client requesting the
> > domains. It was reported on the Registrars List that
> > some registrars are capturing deleted domains and
> > checking to see if there is enough web traffic on a
> > given domain to make it marketable. If not, they
> > simply delete within the five day limit graciously
> > provided by Verisign, a serious misuse of the RRP
> > cancel function.
> >
> > Further, for every wasted capture, said firm has
> > reduces the number of successful registrations coming
> > to their "partner" registrars, badly eroding our
> > profits.
> >
> > This practice is in blatant disregard of the letter
> > and spirit of our contract and constitutes a fatal
> > breach."
> > http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/registrars/msg02480.html
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> > http://mail.yahoo.com
> >

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
    Pierre Abelard

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
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