One commendable aspect of the proposed budget calls for creating an additional full-time
position with the title "Registrar Liaison." The justification given
for the increase is "increased workload in the registrar accreditation area," and
the need for "administration and monitoring of accreditation agreements."Accredited
registrars have undertaken significant obligations regarding the quality and accessibility
of registrant contact data, a key element in efforts to combat copyright piracy on
the Internet. ICANN needs to enhance its capability to monitor the activities
of registrars to ensure compliance, and to provide an efficient and effective mechanism
for dealing with third-party complaints of non-compliance. This need will only
grow as more registrars (both within and outside the existing gTLDs) become subject
to these or similar obligations. Copyright owner groups welcome the proposal to upgrade
ICANN's compliance capability by adding an additional full-time registrar liaison,
and look forward to working with
him/her, and with the accredited registrars,
to promote greater compliance and to improve communication between copyright owners
and registrars.
Steven J. Metalitz
Counsel, Copyright Coalition on Domain
Names
metalitz@iipa.com