[registrars] RE: House subcommittee Hearing on the Whois - cost estimates and the RAA

["Elana Broitman" <ebroitman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

UPDATE.

In order to present a full view of these issues to Congress, and help to limit the number and types of any new funded mandates that may be placed on registrars, we should provide information regarding:
a) how we currently comply with our obligations under the RAA surrounding the maintaince of accurate Whois data; and
b) the cost of such efforts (for a recent example, we might look at the cost of complying with the new accurate whois notice).

If you have data or even anecdotal information to share, please send it to me by tomorrow, and I will prepare an overview to submit for the hearing.

Best regards,

Elana Broitman
Register.com
575 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
Phone (212) 798-9215
Fax   (212) 629-9309
ebroitman@xxxxxxxxxxxx 


-----Original Message-----
From: Elana Broitman 
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2003 10:41 AM
To: Registrar Constituency
Subject: House subcommittee Hearing on the Whois


Dear All - the U.S. Congress House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Intellectual Property will be holding a hearing on September 4th.  Their focus is on Whois accuracy in gTLDs and ccTLDs.  Their immediate question - and leverage - is with regard to the ICANN MOU Extension.  As you can see from their attached letter to the Department of Commerce, they are raising their concerns that registrars have not complied with RAA requirements. Furthermore, they are pushing for added IP-related protections in the MOU extension.

I thought you would all want to be apprised of the Subcommittee's concerns.  What is clearly missing from this discussion is an understanding of the cost of implementing IP-related requirements and the privacy-related constraints experienced by all registrars, but particularly those doing business in Europe.  

I believe it is important to get such information to the Subcommittee.  I am happy to coordinate a registrars letter, if you would send me any views or comments you would have.  At the moment, I understand that the Subcommittee would be inviting representatives of the US Government, including Commerce, and the IP community.  If a provider does not testify, it would be useful to send a letter for the record to the Subcommittee.

Best regards,

Elana Broitman