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
>