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RE: [alac] Board Meeting

  • To: "'ALAC -- ALAC'" <alac@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Subject: RE: [alac] Board Meeting
  • From: "Roberto Gaetano" <roberto@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2006 20:18:05 +0200

John,

> >>    * Discussion of New Proposed Registry Service by PIR - Excess 
> >> Deletion Fee
> > <http://www.icann.org/registries/rsep/PIR_request.pdf>
> > Looks like a response to the domain tasting by charging a fee for 
> > add-grace deletes.
> 
> Registrars that cancel over 90% of new registrations in .ORG 
> would have to pay 5 cents per cancelled domain.  On page 11 
> of this document it says "Recently PIR raised the proposal 
> with members of ALAC, but there has been no feedback from ALAC."
> 
> Does anyone recall this discussion?  I don't.  It seems like 
> a good idea to me, both reducing the instability from 
> speculative name churn and starting to recover the costs.  If 
> it were me, I'd be a dollar if you cancel more than 10%, but 
> I'll take what I can get.
> 

I received the attached document from Ed Viltz, that I circulated in the
internal list after his permission.
To my recollection there was no reaction. However, in the discussion on the
Board list I took the position copied below, that I believe interprets
ALAC's opinion. Please tell me if I was wrong, and I can correct the
position in the upcoming teleconference.
The point I was trying to make is that, while 5 cents is still less than the
prorata cost of the yearly fee, it is better than nothing and might be
sufficient to stop the ill practice, while not creating secondary effects.

Regards,
Roberto Gaetano
ALAC
ICANN Board Liaison

================================================

In principle, I agree with [...]: it is potentially dangerous to have a cost
of registration for a short period inferior to the prorata cost calculated
over a yearly fee of $6. I remember we already had this discussion a while
ago, when discussing about the possibility of eliminating the 5-day grace
period, and I find perfectly adequate that a Registry imposed a fee for
short-term registrations.

However, unless I missed something, we are here talking not in theory, but
in practical terms about a specific case of a registry applying a fee of 5
cents *instead of 0 cents*, not *instead of 10 cents*. I see PIR's move as a
positive step that, while not penalizing excessively good-faith uses of the
grace period, takes a significant step towards discouraging the domain
tasting practice. In itself, therefore, it is not more dangerous for the
stability of the system than leaving things as they are.

[...]

Last but not least, we did not discuss in depth in ALAC about this
situation, so I do not claim to speak for others than myself, but my
personal opinion is that there will be a potential benefit in curbing the
domain tasting practice, practice that ALAC estimates against the interest
of the registrants and users, while the potential drawback of a marginal
raise of the costs is by and large irrelevant for the registrants, as the
genuinely erroneous registrations that will be affected by the 5 cents fee
are a minimal percentage of the overall registrations.

================================================

Attachment: LTR ICANN re Restocking Fee FINAL.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document



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