Re: Registration fees + Insolvency Issues for the new DNS Industry

[Marc Hurst <mhurst@fastlane.ca>]

On Wed, 15 Jul 1998, Jason Hendeles wrote:

> Jason Hendeles wrote:
> 
> Charging registration fees and concerns about registrars and registries becoming
> insolvent have and will likely continue to be heavily contested.  On one side of
> the coin, 'abuse of power comes as no suprise',  there will always be the desire
> to raise rates with a hostage group of clients.  However, proposing no renewal
> fees or inadequate renewal fees may restrict the ability of registries and
> registrars to compete and more importantly survive; especially over the long
> term.

The actual act of supporting a DNS registry is not that expensive. 
Bandwidth and hardware costs are decreasing. With dilution of the 
namespace I'd expect the prices to be driven downward. The controls are 
fine and dandy but I believe the emphasis must be placed on proprietor 
protection from delinquent accounts walking to other registries. If you 
make these suckers too portable a lot of people will push the limits of 
rotating credit and virtual nic handles to the absolute limit.

> 
> Some important points to consider: 
> 
> A better way to solve this is to build a 'competent' service level agreements
> which may include the following:
> 
> 1.    Automatic 2 year + renewal periods.
> 2.    Strong terms and conditions for use and responsibilities.
> 3.    Maximum increases per annum of say a set index tied to inflation + x%.
> 4.    Terms relating to the transition of a domain name.

No. 4 must be bullet proof.

> 
> As there are already a wide variety of attorney's present on these lists, I'm
> sure
> they could make suggestions as to a strong 'licensing' agreement that would
> protect the interests of the licensee and licensor.
> 
> In the end, when DNS becomes an industry, it will set its own guidelines and
> practices to follow, similar to every other industry like the insurance, mutual
> fund and telecommunications industry.  That group will define policy and
> practices to be followed.  If you want DNS services, you will want a provider
> that is a member.  Alternatively, you can expect to suffer the consequences.
> Customers will seek to choose from a variety of DNS providers.
> 
> Buyer beware!  It is their responsibility to diligently ensure that their
> service is protected.  There are a wide variety of legal clauses that could be
> drafted to protect them.  The industry should begin the process with
> constructive suggestions.
> 
> Issue 2:    Insolvency.
> 
> I believe the second richest man in the world, Warren Buffet has a solution to
> this particular problem.  It is called 're-insurance'.  A third party
> organization or
> even NSI could offer itself as a reinsurer or backup service provider in the
> event of insolvency or technical problems.

This is what eDNS and ORSC had ALWAYS pledged. Resources are negligable 
unless NSI were to go south... as if.

> 
> Jason Hendeles
> A Technology Company, Inc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Jason Hendeles Business Architect  A Technology Company, Inc.
> Telephone 416-484-4735 Fax 416-485-4251 Email jnh@skyscape.net
> __________________________________________________________________
> 
> 
>