RE: [ga] Registerfly loses approximately 75,000 customer domains

["Dominik Filipp" <dominik.filipp@xxxxxxxx>]

In the article, it reads:

"Customers are obviously livid, and many have been criticizing ICANN,
the Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers, for not doing anything
to help them.
ICANN's independent ombudsman Frank Fowlie said last week that 70% of
the complaints he has received over the last few weeks have been related
to Registerfly. Unfortunately, he has no powers over registrars, he
said, deferring customers to ICANN registrar liaison Mike Zupke.
ICANN itself has been silent, but Paul Levins, its vice president of
corporate affairs, told us yesterday that the organization has been
talking with Registerfly behind the scenes for a time.
"We've reached the point today where we've decided to make some very
decisive action," he said, declining to elaborate. "We're proceeding
swiftly to protect the interests of people who have the 900,000 names
registered."
It's not yet clear what ICANN can do or intends to do. Its powers over
registrars are limited to enforcing the registrar accreditation
agreement that every company has to sign if they want to sell domain
names."

... I would really like to know whether Frank Fowlie sent at least a
warning letter to RegisterFly when this had become apparent a few months
ago. If the only answer we can hear is 'unfortunately, sorry' then I do
not see a reason for having such an independent ombudsman.

It's also weird that the limited ICANN's powers over registrars do not
prevent Paul Levins from reaching the quick decision about 'very
decisive action' towards RegisterFly. It's nice, but I would rather see
a transparent legitimate action valid and known to all registrars
instead of the private momentary bargaining.

It's time for ICANN to wake up finally and to rebuild its fusty
structures.

Dominik
 

-----Original Message-----
From: kidsearch [mailto:kidsearch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 5:13 AM
To: Jeff Williams; Dominik Filipp
Cc: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; John M.R. Kneuer; Kathy Smith; Anick Jesdanun
(Associated Press); Arik Hesseldahl (BusinessWeek); Paul Sloan
(Business2.com); Rachel Rosmarin (Forbes); Adam Gaffin (NetworkWorld);
Brian Krebs (Washington Post); CNN News Tips; NY Times News Tips; vinton
g. cerf; icann board address; icann staff; essential ecom
Subject: Re: [ga] Registerfly loses approximately 75,000 customer
domains

Because the media links are pretty much . . . spam?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Dominik Filipp" <dominik.filipp@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "John M.R. Kneuer" <jkneuer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>;
"Kathy Smith" <KSMITH@xxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Anick Jesdanun (Associated Press)"

<netwriter@xxxxxx>; "Arik Hesseldahl (BusinessWeek)" 
<Arik_Hesseldahl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Paul Sloan (Business2.com)" 
<psloan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Rachel Rosmarin (Forbes)"
<rrosmarin@xxxxxxxxxx>; "Adam Gaffin (NetworkWorld)" <agaffin@xxxxxxx>;
"Brian Krebs (Washington Post)" <brian.krebs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "CNN
News Tips" <ireport@xxxxxxx>; "NY Times News Tips"
<news-tips@xxxxxxxxxxx>; "vinton g. cerf" 
<vint@xxxxxxxxxx>; "icann board address" <icann-board@xxxxxxxxx>; "icann
staff" <icann-staff@xxxxxxxxx>; "essential ecom" 
<ecommerce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 12:49 AM
Subject: Re: [ga] Registerfly loses approximately 75,000 customer
domains


> Dominik and all,
>
>  The actual Internet commerce association link is here:
> http://www.internetcommerceassociation.com/registerfly_under_fire
>
>  This saga reminds me allot of how Joop handled his "Voting Booth"
> back in the days of the IDNO.
>
>  I am also a bit puzzeled as to why you removed the CC's to media 
> sources and DOC/NTIA eMail addresses???  So, I am adding them back...
>
>  My concern from an ecommerce view, is that ICANN's lack of decisive 
> action has caused significant business disruption to the point of 
> being interpersonally dangerous, and signiling a rift in the 
> confidance of the business community, small and large that may have 
> long lasting international
>
> ecommerce trade ramifications.  Such may also shake the confidance on 
> Wall St. and in the banking/lending instutional segments of many 
> national economies.
>
>
> Dominik Filipp wrote:
>
>> 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
>> >
>
> Regards,
> --
> Jeffrey A. Williams
> Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)

> "Obediance of the law is the greatest freedom" -
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