Comment on proposed registrar disqualification procedure

["Mason Cole" <masonc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed procedures for
registrar disqualification.

 

Oversee.net and its registrar operators agree that it is appropriate to
have mechanisms to keep bad faith operators from harming registrants,
gTLD registries and other registrars.  However, we share a few concerns
about the proposed procedures, including some that already have been
raised with staff at and since the Mexico City meetings.  

 

Specifically:

 

Section 2: People and Entities

 

The draft procedure provides in relevant part as follows: "...any
officer, director, manager, employee (including contractors), or owner
(including beneficial owners)..." are subject to possible
disqualification in case of a triggering action as outlined in Section
1.  The scope of liability as it's currently defined is far too broad
and could include those who are impacted by the improper actions of one
employee.

 

Disqualification should be applied only to those individuals who meet
the disqualification consideration criteria.  By unnecessarily casting
too wide a net, ICANN risks unfairly penalizing good faith operators and
community participants.

 

 

Section 3: Determination of Disqualification

 

3.2.3 provides: "In the event a registrar company is disqualified
pursuant to this Procedure, and action(s) described in section 3.1
occurred within one year of a prior change in ownership of the
registrar, the previous owner of the registrar may also be disqualified
under this Procedure.

 

This unnecessarily exposes a company selling a registrar to liability
for the successor owner's actions.  The first owner may have conducted
registrar business ably and in good faith; that owner should not be
subject to penalty for the potential bad actions by the second.  ICANN
may have no intention to so penalize the first owner (in this instance);
regardless, the clause should be reworded to clarify that liability will
apply to the first owner only in situations where specific evidence
exists of bad faith actions.  Any further liabilities of sellers of an
ICANN accredited registrar should be left to principles of contract law
negotiated between buyer and seller. 

 

Section 5: Communication and Review

 

Section 5.3 provides: "A list of all disqualified individuals and
entities will be published on ICANN's website, with the date and term of
disqualification.

 

Oversee echoes GoDaddy's previous input on this subject - while the
deterrence benefit is attractive, ICANN is nonetheless impacting
professional reputations and livelihoods.  ICANN should very carefully
consider the prudence of this procedure.