Begin forwarded message: > From: "Denise Michel" <[log in to unmask]> > Date: March 25, 2008 9:44:13 AM PDT > To: "Council GNSO" <[log in to unmask]>, liaison6c > <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: [council] FYI - ALAC letter sent to Board on Domain > "Reservation" > Reply-To: [log in to unmask] > > http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/pipermail/alac_atlarge- > lists.icann.org/2008q1/003290.html > > > Dear ICANN board directors: > > While we are aware that you have been monitoring the > public outrage in response to registrar activities > that have been variously described as "front-running" > and/or "domain reservation" or "cart-hold" or > "cart-reserve" activities, we are of the view that the > obligation to safeguard the operational stability of > Registrar Services now requires the immediate > temporary establishment of a consensus policy > curtailing such practices to be taken in accordance > with the board's authority under the provisions set > out in section 4.3.4 of the Registrar Accreditation > Agreement, that states: > > "A specification or policy established by the ICANN > Board of Directors on a temporary basis, without a > prior recommendation by the council of an ICANN > Supporting Organization, shall also be considered to > be a Consensus Policy if adopted by the ICANN Board of > Directors by a vote of at least two-thirds of its > members, so long as the Board reasonably determines > that immediate temporary establishment of a > specification or policy on the subject is necessary to > maintain the operational stability of Registrar > Services, Registry Services, the DNS, or the Internet, > and that the proposed specification or policy is as > narrowly tailored as feasible to achieve those > objectives." > > Please be advised that we have reached this conclusion > based in part upon the following considerations: > > 1. The use of "cart-hold" or "cart-reserve" systems > has been actively under discussion within the > registrars constituency since early October 2007 when > three different registrars first advanced the concept > within the context of a straw poll on the impact to > registrants were the AGP to be eliminated > in its entirety (footnote 1) > > -- see > http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/registrars/msg05123.html > http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/registrars/msg05130.html > http://gnso.icann.org/mailing- > lists/archives/registrars/msg05131.html > http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/registrars/msg05380.html > http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/registrars/msg05626.html > > 2. The use of this domain name reservation practice > next came to be adopted by a large-volume registrar > (Network Solutions) on or about 8 January 2008, and > the practice was immediately condemned by the > community at large (with extensive coverage in the > Tech media, the general press, in blogs world wide, on > domain name forums, and on community discussion > lists). > > 3. The actions of Network Solutions has now spawned a > similar project on the part of another large-volume > registrar (register.com), and we have no reason to > believe that other large-volume registrars will > refrain from rapidly setting up comparable efforts. > > (footnote -- see > http://help.register.com/cgi-bin/register_help.cfg/php/enduser/ > std_adp.php? > p_faqid=2796&p_created=1185549188&p_sid=*Nq5PxZi&p_accessibility=0&p_l > va=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD01NDImc > F9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2V > hcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1 > ) > > > While we recognize that we are unable to point to an > ICANN-approved definition of "operational stability of > Registrar Services" (as no such definition exists > within either current ICANN contracts or supporting > materials), we take guidance from the ICANN Policy > Document ICP-3 which posits that activities that do > not interfere with the operation of the DNS are, > generally speaking, those that operate within > community-established norms. > > Such norms tend to respect a set of long-established > principles such as the principle of least > astonishment. When registrants currently search for a > domain name at these registrars using normative search > practices, they are clearly astonished by that which > results from their efforts: the inability to readily > register the domain name of their choice with a more > competitive registrar and/or the domain name that they > have selected appearing in the WHOIS with the name of > the registrar as the registrant of record > > (footnote -- see > http://help.register.com/cgi-bin/register_help.cfg/php/enduser/ > std_adp.php? > p_faqid=2796&p_created=1185549188&p_sid=*Nq5PxZi&p_accessibility=0&p_l > va=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD01NDImc > F9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2V > hcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1 > ). > > The community's trust in ICANN's ability to manage the > Domain Name System is at stake. It is inappropriate > for such registrar activities to proceed unabated in a > policy vaccuum. Accordingly we call upon the ICANN > board to establish a temporary narrowly-tailored > policy as a stopgap until such time as the relevant > policy-recommending ICANN Supporting Organizations can > provide a comprehensive consensus policy solution. > > [Submitted to Board via At-Large Advisory Committee Board Liaison, > Wendy Seltzer] > > > IP JUSTICE Robin Gross, Executive Director 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451 w: http://www.ipjustice.org e: [log in to unmask]