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Re: [registrars] Regarding introducing registry services

  • To: Tim Ruiz <tim@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Subject: Re: [registrars] Regarding introducing registry services
  • From: elliot noss <enoss@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:11:29 -0500
  • Cc: "'Paul Stahura'" <stahura@xxxxxxxx>, "'Bruce Tonkin'" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, jeffrey@xxxxxxxxx, "'Paul Twomey'" <twomey@xxxxxxxxx>, roseman@xxxxxxxxx, registrars@xxxxxxxx
  • In-reply-to: <011a01c3a38c$4b653a20$fa05a8c0@TIMRUIZ>
  • References: <011a01c3a38c$4b653a20$fa05a8c0@TIMRUIZ>
  • Sender: owner-registrars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.5) Gecko/20030924 Thunderbird/0.3

I have read these contracts, especially the .com agreement, many times over the past couple years (I know, I know, I should get a hobby) and to me this issue has always been clear on its face. This is a fee-for-service contract.

I have raised this in numerous public forums and am thrilled to see Bruce formally putting it on the table. I believe it is the elephant in the room and we need to make this the first (second and third) issue that is dealt with when discussing registry services.

We need be very careful that we have the discussion "should new registry services be introduced" rather than "how should new registry services be introduced". I have seen the registries cleverly moving the discussion to the latter which subsumes the former. We need deal with these issues sequentially.

To Tim and Paul (who are clearly fighting the good fight in their posts) I caution you (and remember we have our discussions publically which is a HUGE advantage to those opposed to our positions) lets not negotiate with ourselves. Lets agree that we feel these are fee-for-service contracts and lets let ICANN and the registries try and demonstrate otherwise. Full stop. Otherwise they will deal with the points you raise individually, not the meta-point, and their task will be easier.

Just my thoughts.

Regards

Tim Ruiz wrote:

Bruce,

Section 3.6 of the agreements (section 24 in the COM agreement) restrict the
registry's use of second level names without having to go through ICANN
accredited registrars, just like any other party. That would seem out of
place in an agreement meant to be a license.

Other aspects/provisions also indicate that it was meant to be a service
provided for a fee.

For example, the agreement is specifically for the provision of specified
Registry Services for a Service Term effective on the
Commencement-of-Service Date. And there are price restrictions/caps on the
Registry Services provided.

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-registrars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-registrars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Paul Stahura
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 3:21 PM
To: 'Bruce Tonkin'; jeffrey@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: Paul Twomey; roseman@xxxxxxxxx; registrars@xxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [registrars] Regarding introducing registry services

Bruce, I agree that is a basic question.

Since both DoC and ICANN say they need to approve new services for gTLDs, I can only conclude that it was intended that some TLDs were to be one way and
some the other way.
For example, ccTLDs were more like an SLD in that they could put in *
records and such,
and the 7 "new" TLDs and gTLDs (ok, all non-ccTLDs) were more like operating
on behalf of ICANN/USG, and couldn't just do whatever they wanted with DNS and
the TLD,
like SLD registrants in the .com TLD could do, for example.

Paul


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Tonkin [mailto:Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2003 11:15 AM
To: jeffrey@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: Paul Twomey; roseman@xxxxxxxxx; registrars@xxxxxxxx
Subject: [registrars] Regarding introducing registry services


Hello John,

A question has come up a few times in the registrars constituency in
relation to the existing registry agreements.

The basic question I think is:

Is the current registry agreement intended to be in the form of an
outsourced arrangement where a registry operator provides a specified
service (e.g domain name registration) for a specified price (e.g $6)
for the ICANN community, OR is the registry agreement intended to be in
the form of a licence right to operate a particular TLD and generate
revenue based on the services possible from such a role (subject to some
maximum price controls on core services)?

If it is the former, then the ICANN community could decide that a new
service is desirable, and this could be subject to some sort of RFP to
provide.

If it is the latter, then the licence for a tld is similar to the
licence a registrar provides a registrant for a second level domain (ie
anything is possible at third (xyz.abc.com) and subsequent levels within
the standards of the DNS).   Registrants may currently operate their own
nameservers for the second level names, and these nameservers may vary
in their behaviour.  Registrants can decide how they wish to allocated
names at levels below the second level (e.g xyz.au.com).

I would like to see this question addressed within the registry services
issues report.

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin




--
Elliot Noss
Tucows Inc.
416-538-5494
enoss.blogware.com




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