[registrars] FYI re: Transfers

[John Berryhill]

>"domains that have expired and are in the auto-renewal period are still
>eligible for transfer to another registrar except under nine limited
>circumstances...."

There is a fundamental problem here, though.

If I enter into a service contract on 20 September 2007 with Tom, and the
contract specifies that I am to receive the contracted service for one year,
then Tom's obligation to me ends on 20 September 2008.  Now, our contract
may include a number of voluntary renewal provisions and may limit Tom's
obligation to perform specific services for a longer period than one year,
however when I enter into a contract for services for a term, then I am
entitled to know when that term ends.  Both parties are entitled to clarity
as to term.

This reduces to a Groucho Marx quiz question:

1. "How long does a one year contract last?"

It doesn't require a lawyer to answer that question.

But I would put the following question to the advocate of nebulous
"extra-term obligations":

2.  Specifically how long is a registrar obligated to provide services under
a one year registration contract?  A year plus 30 days?  A year plus 45
days?

If one cannot define the term of obligation, then I think more than one
registrar is going to have its accountants and auditors slitting their
wrists if they cannot assign a fixed term of obligation to a registration
contract.

Post contract-expiration terms can be permissive, but I cannot see how they
can be made mandatory - at least not in the US since passage of the 13th
Amendment.

On the "whois change" matter, I believe Tim Ruiz may have a few words about
voluntary and non-onerous security measures.  I can say that in hi-jacking
situations, if the name hits GoDaddy, then one has at least 60 days to catch
up with it there.  

When a domain can be subject to two registrar transfers in rapid succession,
then the Transfer Dispute policy breaks.  The TDRS is premised on a one-hop
unauthorized transfer.  In a two-hop hi-jack, the second hop is formally
"authorized", and the first hop cannot be remedied because the intermediate
registrar cannot transfer the domain name back even if the first hop WAS
unauthorized.