I have just received the Sedo's February newsletter at
http://sedo.com/newsletter/us/nl_feb_2007.htm
and I especially recommend reading the article "Domainers, Take a Stand
in 2007" out there.
Another interesting link mentioned in the article is recently launched
"Internet Commerce Association" at
http://www.internetcommerceassociation.com.
Dominik
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Andy Gardner
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:14 AM
To: Prophet Partners Inc.
Cc: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; John M.R. Kneuer (U.S. Department of Commerce);
Vint Cerf; Anick Jesdanun (Associated Press); Arik Hesseldahl
(BusinessWeek); Paul Sloan (Business2.com); Scott Ard (c|net); Rachel
Rosmarin (Forbes); Adam Gaffin (NetworkWorld); Brian Krebs (Washington
Post); CNN News Tips; NY Times News Tips
Subject: Re: [ga] Registerfly loses approximately 75,000 customer
domains
Hows that data escrow going ICANN? Got it going yet yet?
No, I thought not.
The domain registrants get screwed again.
Taxation of the unrepresented.
On Feb 21, 2007, at 2:50 AM, Prophet Partners Inc. wrote:
Hi Jeff,
That's correct, no one on this mailing list sees this as being a
surprising event.
Registerfly with an estimated 2 million domain names, is one of the
top 10 domain registrars in the world, as measured by the total number
of domains under management. By their own admission in the court
document mentioned earlier, they recently failed to register or renew
approximately 35-40 % (75,000 / 200,000) of their customers' domains.
Complaints are rampant, with customers that paid for timely renewals
later receiving notification that their domains were expiring. To
compound the problem, many people complain that their domains are now
locked at Registerfly, without the ability to transfer out to another
registrar. Customer accounts of customer support being unresponsive or
unreachable are also widespread. This is far from being a small
problem and certainly not representative of a secure and stable DNS.
Given that Registerfly is ICANN accredited and ICANN's primary
objective is to maintain and ensure the security and stability of the
DNS, what has ICANN done and what should they do to protect domain
registrants who are customers of Registerfly? Note that Danny
Younger's message was sent to Vint Cerf, Chairman of ICANN's Board,
nearly 3 months ago. What consumer benefits are there to choosing an
ICANN accredited registrar over one that is not? What is ICANN doing
to earn the $0.25 "tax" (without representation) for each annual
domain registration / renewal paid by domain registrants (who have no
influence on the shaping of ICANN policies)?
ICANN wants to eventually gain autonomy from the U.S. Department of
Commerce, but what have they demonstrated through past actions to
prove that they are capable of being autonomous? To the contrary,
ICANN has repeatedly shown that they do not act in the best interests
of the public community of domain registrants.
Sincerely,
Ted
Prophet Partners Inc.
http://www.ProphetPartners.com
http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com
CC: John M.R. Kneuer (Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Communications and Information, U.S. Department of Commerce - NTIA)
Vint Cerf (Chairman of the Board, ICANN)
Anick Jesdanun (Associated Press)
Arik Hesseldahl (BusinessWeek)
Paul Sloan (Business 2.0)
Scott Ard (c|net)
Rachel Rosmarin (Forbes)
Adam Gaffin (NetworkWorld)
Brian Krebs (The Washington Post)
CNN News Tips
The N.Y. Times News Tips
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Prophet Partners Inc." <Domains@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 12:30 AM
Subject: Re: [ga] Registerfly loses approximately 75,000 customer
domains
Ted and all,
Interesting, but not all that surprising. On the surface it would
seem that the allegations are more based on poor expense reporting
mechanisms and even worse employee supervision or Registerfly is
trying to cover up some mistakes in registrar management.
Prophet Partners Inc. wrote:
A February 12, 2007 complaint was filed by UNIFIEDNAMES, INC. d/b/a
Registerfly and JOHN NARUSZEWICZ v. KEVIN MEDINA in the U.S.
District
Court
of New Jersey. It states that as of December 2006, roughly 200,000
domains
were registered on behalf of customers and that approximately 75,000
of these customer domains were lost since January 2007, due to the
actions
of
the Defendant, which resulted in failure to pay the required
registry
fees.
The Plaintiff alleges that the Defendant wasted company money to pay
for
a
personal escort, rent on a Miami penthouse, personal credit card
bills
and
liposuction, in addition to withdrawing thousands of dollars from
company
accounts for personal spending.
http://registerflies.com/docman/cat_view-2.html
This would certainly explain the Registerfly problems addressed by
Danny Younger on November 30, 2006.
http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/ga/msg05232.html
However, ICANN's failure to act and protect Registerfly customers
remains
unexplained.
Sincerely,
Ted
Prophet Partners Inc.
http://www.ProphetPartners.com
http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com
Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams