Re: [ga] Is VeriSign in violation of section 16.C of the 2001 .com Registry Agreement?

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

George and all,

  Nice bit of detective work/follow on here.  A shame Elliot Spitizer
has recently been elected Gov. of NY.  Maybe the DOJ can get
off the dime on this one and give Mr. jeffrey a tug on his chain on
this one.

George Kirikos wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I'd discussed section 16.C in the past at:
>
> http://www.icannwatch.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/28/0231226
>
> An interesting post by Edward Hasbrouk at:
>
> http://forum.icann.org/lists/revised-biz-info-org-agreements/msg00011.html
>
> prompted me to look at:
>
> http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/
>
> and in particular the list of entities at:
>
> http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/index.shtml
> http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/prgrmlst.txt
> ("Specially Designated Nationals List", the text version sorted by
> program)
>
> If one finds VeriSign doing business with any of those entities, that
> would seem to be a no no, wouldn't it?? Anyhow, in the Cuba section, I
> noticed:
>
> HOLA SUN HOLIDAYS LIMITED, 146 Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill,
> Ontario, L4B
> 1C2, Canada [CUBA]
>
> (there are probably others, but that's just one I found fast by
> searching for "Canada")
>
> According to their WHOIS: http://whois.domaintools.com/holasun.com
>
> Registrant:
> Hola Sun Holidays
>   146 West Beaver Creek Road
>   Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 1C2
>   CA
>
> Of course, this is a .com -- a registry run by our good friends at
> VeriSign. The domain is registered with Network Solutions, which was
> once owned by VeriSign. And according to the historic WHOIS at
> domaintools.com (membership required):
>
> http://domain-history.domaintools.com/?page=details&domain=holasun.com&vol=2&date=2000-04-11
>
> Domain: holasun.com
> Cache Date:      2000-04-11
> Registrar:      NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
>
> Registrant:
> Hola Sun Holidays
> 146 West Beaver Creek Road
> Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 1C2
> CA
>
> And if one looks at the SSL certificate used for that domain name, it
> is provided by Thawte, which is owned by VeriSign:
>
> https://www.thawte.com/core/process?process=public-site-seal-cert-details&public-site-seal-cert-details.referer=http://www.holasun.com/
>
> [ organization ]        Holasun Holidays Ltd
> [ domain ]      www.holasun.com
> [ country ]     Canada
> [ current status ]      Valid
> [ valid from ]  2006.09.20
> [ valid until ] 2008.09.19
>
> So, does VeriSign have the necessary exemptions in place to be able to
> register domains or issue SSL certs to these entities? [Other
> registries (and registrars) might want to be careful, too.] If not, is
> 16.C triggered?? I'm not a lawyer (nor play one on TV!), so perhaps
> some of the legal eagles on this list might weigh in with their views.
>
> BTW,
> http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/regulations/t11trav.pdf
> makes interesting reading, e.g.:
>
> "Can a travel agent in the United States...
>
> ?   do business with Aero Continente, Aerocaribbean Airlines, Cubana
> Airlines or Vinales Tours?     Not   those companies, nor any of the
> other 2,400 individuals and  organizations on a U.S. Government
> Specially Designated list.
>
> ..... And what if a travel agent DOES do any of these things?
> Criminal violations of the statutes administered by OFAC can result in
> corporate and personal fines of up to $1 million per count and, in the
> case of individuals, a maximum of 10 to 12 years in jail per count.
> OFAC also has independent authority to impose civil penalties from
> $11,000 to $1,075,000 per count depending upon the sanctions involved."
>
> One can probably find more examples, including in other gTLD
> registries. I leave that as an exercise for gentle readers (finding
> ones that use VeriSign certs directly, instead of their Thawte division
> might be fun to post).
>
> Given ICANN charges 25 cents per .com, might the same arguments apply
> to ICANN itself??!!??
>
> Sincerely,
>
> George Kirikos
> http://www.kirikos.com/

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
   Abraham Lincoln

"Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is
very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

"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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