Re: [ga] The End of Domain Tasting and its Consequences

["kidsearch" <kidsearch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"As Vint properly noted in his email, it would be virtual suicide for "most"
registry operators to abuse this discretion."

That is the equivalent about what gw bush said about giving 15 years of back
taxes to the corporations. Congress wanted to put in a stipulation that if
the US Gov gave them this tax break they have to create x number of new jobs
with it since it was meant or sold as being for the creation of jobs. Bush's
reply was that you don't need to have strings attached, these corporations
will do the right thing.

Sorry but contracts are not in place because we assume everyone will do the
right thing. If that were the case why have any contract for the registries
at all. Why not just trust them to do the right thing always? You cannot
assume they will not do something because YOU or VINT thinks it would not be
in their best interest to do it, therefore meaning they will not do it.

A contract is put into place and you attempt to cover every scenario you can
think of. You cannot imagine every possibility in the world, but this one
has been brought to your attention and you can do something about it by
placing it into the contract.

Chris McElroy aka NameCritic
http://icann.thingsthatjustpissmeoff.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael D. Palage" <Michael@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Thomas Narten'" <narten@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <vint@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 12:27 PM
Subject: RE: [ga] The End of Domain Tasting and its Consequences


> Thomas:
>
> Thanks for pointing this "nondiscrimatory" provision out to the GA list.
> I agree that this would prevent against the specific scenario which
> Danny has outlined in his email.
>
> I also think it is important that this "nondiscriminatory" concept be
> analyzed in connection with the pricing models which has been a recent
> topic of discussion on the GA list as well. I appreciate Vint's
> professionalism in providing the answer to George's  had sought in
> advance of the close of the public comment period.
>
> I have some points of agreement and divergence with George's response to
> Vint's email so let me begin from the top.
>
> Under existing ICANN registry contracts, not all domain names are
> created equal, this may surprise many people. For example, if you look
> at the .MOBI registry contract Appendix S, Part 4 Attachment 1,
> http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/mobi/mobi-appendixS-23nov05.htm,
> you will see that the .MOBI registry operator currently has the legal
> right to allocate domain names on an otherwise than first come first
> serve basis at a uniform price.  Specifically, it can allocate "Premium
> Names on a One time initial purchase", or as listed in the future
> registry services section "Premium names sold via multi-year fee
> structure." This is also consistent with the .MOBI launch which has done
> so with multiple price points (sunrise, landrush, premium, post
> landrush).
>
> My personal opinion is that ICANN needs to focus on preventing a
> registry operator due to its sole source contract from abusing that
> position within the marketplace by allowing discriminatory pricing. If a
> registry operator is merely imposing an equitable pricing model on the
> same class of domain names, that is not discriminatory. As Vint properly
> noted in his email, it would be virtual suicide for "most" registry
> operators to abuse this discretion. George and I have discussed on the
> Business Constituency list how .COM is the dominant registry operator in
> the marketplace. Being a lawyer I refrain from throwing around the "M"
> word (monopoly) as it has significant legal consequences. But I believe
> an email by Jeff Neuman on the GA list a couple of weeks ago
> acknowledged the importance that VeriSign has on setting price within
> the gTLD marketplace.
>
> The portfolio of most professional registrants (domainers) are composed
> of .com domain names. They are probably only concerned with what happens
> in .info, .biz or .org as the precedent that this may set for VeriSign
> having that same legal right under the .COM contract.
>
> As I tried to discuss with George on the Business constituency list, I
> believe the provision in the new registry contracts to refer to
> "appropriate governmental competition authorit[ies]" matters involving
> new registry services (i.e. differential pricing) is very important.
> This change in the new ICANN registry contracts is important as it
> recognizes ICANN's limited scope of authority, which ties into a recent
> exchange I had with Karl regarding the scope and source of ICANN's
> authority.
>
> I think as ICANN gains experience with the new Funnel Process which went
> live earlier this week, the real question needs to focus on is the 45
> day referral window to the appropriate competition authority reasonable?
> Additionally, are these competition authorities suitably tasked with
> handling submissions from ICANN?
>
> If I was still on the Board this is the one question that I would be
> asking. Given ICANN's recent decisions to extricate itself from
> overseeing registry pricing, are the governmental safeguards that it has
> in place adequate to protect domain name registrants. Given the length
> of the DoC/DoJ review of the VeriSign .COM agreement, I think the 45 day
> period as currently contained in the base registry contracts may not be
> suitable. However, these are questions not specifically directed to the
> .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG contracts but to all the ICANN registry contracts
> which have this important provision (.NET, .TRAVEL, .JOBS, MOBI, and
> .CAT).
>
> Thanks again for your constructive comments and I hope my feedback is
> equally constructive. I also appreciate both your and Veni's
> contribution to the GA list.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Michael
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Thomas Narten
> Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 10:21 AM
> To: Danny Younger
> Cc: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; vint@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ga] The End of Domain Tasting and its Consequences
>
>
> Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> > For example, what if VeriSign and/or others decided to
> > sell this data for a high price to a single speculator
> > that had a relationship with a single registrar.
> > Would this violate current registrar equal access
> > requirements created to ensure competition?  Probably
> > not, as the registry would be selling data to a third
> > party and not directly to the registrar community.
>
> > What if these registries decided to put all their data (including data
>
> > on existing domains) up for auction? Most likely a single party such
> > as Google or Yahoo would prevail at auction.  Is it appropriate for a
> > single entity to have exclusive use of such registry
> > data?
>
> Wouldn't this run afoul of the last sentence of the clause relating to
> "Traffic Data", namely:
>
> > To the extent that traffic data subject to this provision is made
> > available, access shall be on terms that are nondiscriminatory.
>
> Thomas
>
>
>
>
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