[registrars] Re: [gnso-dow123] ICANN staff message to registrars about accuracy of registrant data

[Rob Hall]

I shudder to point this out given sensitive nature of the specific the
domain involved, but I think your example concerning the "Crisis Center"
domain is incorrect.

I believe it was in no way due to "poor registrar practices".  If I
recall, PIR said that the Registrant had knowingly and willingly decided
not to renew that domain, as it was not their primary domain.  They were
upset after voluntarily choosing to delete it, when someone else
registered the same domain name.

I do not believe this would be considered "poor registrar practices",
although this example certainly is getting attention as if it was.  In
fact, it is probably an example of just the opposite:  namely a
registrar working with their Registrant to ensure they knew the domain
was up for renewal, so they could make the choice not to renew it,
rather than it deleting without any forethought.

Rob 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-registrars at gnso.icann.org
[mailto:owner-registrars at gnso.icann.org] On Behalf Of Ross Rader
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 11:47 PM
To: 'Tim Cole'
Cc: gnso-dow123 at gnso.icann.org; registrars at gnso.icann.org
Subject: [registrars] Re: [gnso-dow123] ICANN staff message to
registrars about accuracy of registrant data

Tim -

While I understand that you are just the messenger, I feel compelled to
point out what a waste of time it is to forward substantively null
accusations such as this to the registrar mailing list. If there are
specific issues that can be addressed, they should be brought to our
attention. The message below is completely devoid of any useful
information that anyone can act upon. Has anyone brought the Whois Data
Problem Reporting System to Mr. Larue's attention? Have the domain
details been forwarded to the appropriate registrar for actioning? Does
the NTIA know that ICANN is neither a consumer protection agency, nor an
enforcer for spam-hunters? Tim - to what extent have you raised
awareness about the private-sector led cooperative efforts such as the
reg-ops and cspam groups who deal with the operational fallout caused by
whois inaccuracy and internet spam on a daily basis?

In Wellington we heard at great length that registrants were losing
domain names because of poor registrar practices. We heard a vivid story
about a domain which had been previously registered by a rape crisis
center and purchased post-expiry and pointed at an advertisement for an
internet pornography site. We have heard from Paul Twomey that the
expiration policies are being used by registrars in a manner that was
not intended and that the policy should be revisited.

In Wellington, when I proposed an examination of these issues at the
Council meeting, neither the registrant community, nor the registry
community was willing to endorse the creation of an issues report on
this issue. Despite the handwaving at all other levels about the serious
nature of the inequities being perpetrated by the registrar community,
it was not possible to garner sufficient traction with the Council on
this issue to move forward with an issues report.

The lesson that I took away from this is that while a lot of people
don't mind publicly complaining about problems and laying them at the
feet of the registrar community, very few are willing to actually help
identify specific problems that can be solved, or working to solve
general issues at a policy level.

With the greatest of respect, I would like to ask you to request that
someone from ICANN followup with the NTIA and help them come to
understand the answers to the questions I posed in the first paragraph
of this message. It is imperative that they be made to understand that
ICANN and the registrar community is part of the solution, not part of
the problem. I hope that the private sector can count on the NTIA and
the rest of the US Government to participate in the same way.

Regards,

-ross

> From: owner-registrars at gnso.icann.org
> [mailto:owner-registrars at gnso.icann.org] On Behalf Of Tim Cole
> Sent: Friday, 7 April 2006 3:17 AM
> To: Registrars
> Subject: [registrars] FW: sending letters to my government 
> representatives regarding ICANN failure to monitor
> 
> 
> Dear Colleagues,
>  
> I have been asked to forward the email below by the NTIA in the U.S.
> Department of Commerce.  It echoes a message that we hear often at 
> ICANN about Whois accuracy.
>  
> Regards,
> 
> Tim Cole
> Chief Registrar Liaison
> Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers            
> 
> 
>  
> 
> Fwd: sending letters to my government representatives regarding ICANN 
> failure to monitor
> 
> 
> 	To whom it may concern,
> 
> 	I recently received SPAM to an email account from an entity
which 
> whom I have no business or interest with.
> 	In looking up that entities domain in the whois lookup, it was 
> evident that the registrar for that domain had
> 	no rules for detecting even the simplest fraudulent
registration. 
> What I saw was an invalid zipcode, city,
> 	and telephone contact number for the domain listed in the email.
> 
> 	It is pathetic that there is NO facilities to address this, that
this 
> 'event' even happened, and that the registrar
> 	of this domain is permitted to continue operation while not
having 
> implemented basic validation of validity of
> 	it's customers.
> 
> 	As I stated in the subject, I will be notifying my local, state
and 
> federal government representatives of this
> 	failure and ask that provisions be mandated for each registrar
to 
> validate customer data and that ICANN provide
> 	a policing policy and automated verification process for this.
> 
> 
> 	Doug LaRue
> 	
> 
> 
> 
> 


-- 

                        -rr








                 "Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions.
                                            All life is an experiment.
                             The more experiments you make the better."
                         - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Contact Info:
Ross Rader
Director, Research & Innovation
Tucows Inc.
c. 416.828.8783

Get Started? http://start.tucows.com
My Blogware: http://www.byte.org