RE: [ga] .BIZ contract amendment in May 2006? Also, Has Neustar filed its "Proof of Concept" reports for .biz?

["Drazek, Keith" <Keith.Drazek@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

George, 

NeuLevel submitted our final .BIZ Proof of Concept Report to ICANN in
January 2005. 

Sincerely,

Keith Drazek
Senior Manager, Industry & Government Relations
NeuStar, Inc.
2000 M St. NW Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Keith.drazek@xxxxxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of George Kirikos
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 1:17 AM
To: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; revised-biz-info-org-agreements@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: john.jeffrey@xxxxxxxxx; vint@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ga] .BIZ contract amendment in May 2006? Also, Has Neustar
filed its "Proof of Concept" reports for .biz?

Hello,

I was browsing ICANN's website, and noticed that there was an amendment
to the .biz Agreement dated May 24, 2006:

http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/biz/registry-amendment3-24may06.htm

which changed the dates by *5 months* in sections 5.2.1 and 5.2.2. I
must have missed the discussion and/or announcements of those
contractual changes 

http://www.icann.org/minutes/
http://www.icann.org/announcements/

I've read all the minutes and announcements for 2006, and didn't see
any mention of that contractual change being approved by the Board. If
someone can be so kind as to find mention of it anywhere, I'd
appreciate it.

Given Section 5.2.1 reads "...but the decision whether to accept the
Renewal Proposal shall be in ICANN's sole discretion", it is clear that
ICANN's optimal decision for the public interest is to exercise that
discretion, and reject the Renewal Proposal (in the form of the current
contract proposal) and call for competing proposals *immediately* (the
one month period has elapsed in 5.2.1 and 5.2.2).

WHAT DOES ICANN HAVE TO LOSE BY CALLING FOR COMPETING PROPOSALS??
Nothing. They can either do better through a competing proposal, or
accept Neustar's proposal if no one makes a better proposal and be no
worse off. ICANN would be irrational not to call for competing
proposals.

If I was buying a car and got a quote from a dealer, I'd certainly
check the prices around town from other dealers to make sure I was
getting the best possible deal before signing on the bottom line. What
colour is the sky in ICANN's world, that things are somehow different,
that they have not yet done what any smart shopper would do? Exercise
the "sole discretion" to call for competing proposals, today.

According to Appendix U of the .biz agreement:

http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/biz/

various "Proof of Concept" reports were required of the registry
operator.

According to:

http://www.icann.org/registries/poc/biz.html

there are "No reports currently available" at the time of this email.
Other registries have filed their Proof of Concept reports, e.g.

.info -- http://www.icann.org/registries/poc/info.html
.name -- http://www.icann.org/registries/poc/name.html

etc. The only other registry that has no reports listed is .pro.

Of course, it might be that ICANN has simply failed to post the reports
on the website. Another possibility is that they were never filed, or
have not been filed on time -- in this case, Neustar would be in breach
of the registry agreement, and this would be another reason the .biz
registry should be re-bid.

Sincerely,

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