Re: [ga] The race to the bottom continues...

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Danny, Dr. Dierker and all,

  Indeed ICANN is a regulator in the manner in which Danny
describes.  Like the SEC, only ICANN has oversight from
DOC/NTIA and seemingly has few recourses of action
to take with bad actors like RegistryFly and GoDaddy.

  However one also has to recognize that ICANN receives
some of it's funding from Registrars, So ICANN's motivation
in taking direct and immediate action is minimal.  Hence
this leaves registrants in a vulnerable position regardless
of whom their registrar of choice is.  All this is mainly
due to the fact ICANN has little regard for registrants
which was made evident in the ignoring of comments
submitted regarding the renewal of RAA contract agreements
which no protection provisions for registrants which were
suggested, were incorporated in those renewed RAA
contract agreements.

  Lets also not forget, Roberto lobbied hard against
any such protection provisions for registrants...

Danny Younger wrote:

> Eric,
>
> I've heard this line of argumentation before and
> sorry, but I continue to disagree with your
> conclusion.
>
> In spite of ICANN's many claims that it is not a
> regulator, ICANN is very much a regulator that uses
> the vehicle of contract law to regulate the domain
> name industry.  ICANN is also the de facto manager of
> the DNS, and from where I sit, the appalling behaviors
> on the part of some/many within the registrar
> community make it clear that ICANN has done a lousy
> job as a manager precisely because it has failed in
> its remit to act in the public interest.
>
> Stakeholder interests have been given priority over
> the public interest time and time again.  How many
> years has the public gone without registrant data
> escrow protections?  How many years have we had to
> wait before a single Compliance manager was added to
> ICANN Staff?  How many years have we gone without a
> registrant's constituency in place?  We still can't
> select a competitively-priced Redemption Grace Period
> restoring registrar and we remain locked into
> extortionate redemption fee structures.
>
> We are not looking at a case of buyer beware or head
> to the courts... we are dealing with gross
> mismanagement on the part of the single entity
> entrusted with the management of the DNS.  ICANN has
> turned a blind eye to problems far too often and the
> public now gets screwed as a result.
>
> For years ICANN has been pitching "ICANN-accredited"
> as if it was some kind of a Good Housekeeping Seal of
> Approval for the domain name industry; we now see that
> accreditation amounts to nothing more than another set
> of fees for ICANN to receive (as far too many RAA
> violations continue to go unaddressed).
>
> Eric,  nobody is looking for more regulation... we are
> looking for consistent enforcement, compliance and
> recognition of the fact that registrants are a
> legitimate stakeholder community with legitimate
> concerns.
>
> In failing to heed the voice of the public, ICANN has
> chosen to reap the whirlwind.  Let's hope that the
> registerfly calamity at least has served as a long
> overdue wake up call.
>
>
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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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