Re: [gnso-dow123] another comment on preliminary task force report

[Jordyn Buchanan <jordyn.buchanan@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for brining this to our attention.

Maria/Glen--could you look into why there seemed to be a problem
getting this submission accepted?  It's worth checking to see if there
are other submissions that may have had similar problems as well.

Jordyn

On 2/13/06, Steve Metalitz <metalitz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> In addition to the 42 public comments posted in the archive at
> http://forum.icann.org/lists/whois-comments/, the Task
> Force should also be aware of the comment below.  Although (as I understand)
> it was submitted twice before last Wednesday's deadline, for some reason it
> still does not appear in the archive.  Like the great majority of comments
> that were posted, it argues against recognition of formulation 1 of the
> "purpose of Whois."
>
> Will our next steps on the preliminary report be an agenda item on
> tomorrow's Task Force call?
>
> Steve Metalitz
>
>  ________________________________
>  From: OrtmeierJ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:OrtmeierJ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 9:36 AM
> To: whois-comments@xxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Comment on Preliminary Task Force Report on the Purpose of Whois
> and of the Whois Contacts
>
>
>
>
>
> To Whom It May Concern:
>
> I am intellectual property counsel for the American Red Cross charged with
> protecting the AMERICAN RED CROSS and RED CROSS trade names.  The American
> Red Cross is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization, led by
> volunteers, that provides disaster relief to victims of disasters and helps
> people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.  Since 1905, the
> American Red Cross name has been protected by statute in the United States,
> now codified as 18 U.S.C. §§ 706 and 917.  In 1999, the United States
> Congress protected the American Red Cross from bad faith registration of
> domain names containing the RED CROSS name and the trafficking in or use of
> such domain names on the Internet by incorporating the American Red Cross
> statute (18 U.S.C. § 706) into the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection
> Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(1)(A)(ii)(III).  The American Red Cross owns and
> maintains a number of websites, including websites containing the words RED
> CROSS.  The American Red Cross' public website is www.redcross.org.  In
> 2004, www.redcross.org averaged over 1.5 million successful hits per day
> with an average of over 904,000 unique visitors to its www.redcross.org
> website each month in 2004.
>
>
>
> Pursuant to its statutory authority, the American Red Cross has actively
> pursued websites, domain name registrations and e-mail campaigns that have
> used the RED CROSS name without authorization, including those directing
> donations to websites other than those authorized by the American Red Cross.
>  During my tenure at the American Red Cross, hundreds of unauthorized third
> parties have registered domain names containing the words RED CROSS.  In
> particular, national disasters like September 11th and Hurricane Katrina or
> international disasters like the Southeast Asia tsunami resulted in
> significant spikes in the number of third parties registering domain names
> containing the words RED CROSS.  By way of example, in the days after
> Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 25, 2005, the following domain
> names were registered by third parties unaffiliated with and unauthorized by
> the American Red Cross:
>
>
>
> o     www.katrinaredcross.com
>
> o     www.donateredcross.com
>
> o     www.red-cross-help.com
>
> o     www.americaredcross.org
>
>
>
> This is a very limited sample of unauthorized domain names registered in the
> days after Hurricane Katrina.  Many of the unauthorized websites at domain
> names containing the words RED CROSS fraudulently solicit donations.  As
> another example of the egregious nature of some of these unauthorized
> activities, a third party registered www.american-redcross.org in the days
> after the Southeast Asia tsunami and then proceeded to cut and paste the
> donation page from www.redcross.org to the new, unauthorized web site at
> www.american-redcross.org.  The two donation pages (one legitimately
> belonged to the American Red Cross, the other was fraudulent) were nearly
> identical.
>
>
>
> The American Red Cross uses Whois data to shut down the web sites conducting
> these unauthorized and fraudulent activities.  The owners, once discovered
> by the American Red Cross, will often shut down their web sites within
> minutes of receiving an email from the American Red Cross.  At the height of
> disaster response, the American Red Cross often discovers these unauthorized
> web sites within days of the RED CROSS domain name being registered, and it
> is not uncommon that the American Red Cross can get the web site shut down
> within hours, thus mitigating the number of victims who unknowingly give
> money or personal financial information (credit card numbers, bank account
> and PIN numbers, etc.) to web sites that are not affiliated with the
> American Red Cross.
>
>
>
> For the owners that do not willingly (or immediately) shut down their web
> sites, the American Red Cross often notifies the owner's hosting company
> (found through the Technical Contact details of Whois records) and/or the
> domain name registrar to alert them to the unauthorized and/or fraudulent
> activity being conducted by the domain name registrant/owner.  Lastly, the
> American Red Cross uses Whois data to further investigate these unauthorized
> and fraudulent activities and ultimately assist federal, state and local law
> enforcement.  All of these uses of Whois data fall outside the scope of
> Formulation 1 in the Task Force preliminary report.  Without accurate Whois
> data, the American Red Cross is incapable of shutting down unauthorized and
> fraudulent RED CROSS web sites quickly enough so as to minimize the impact
> on American Red Cross donors, the victims of the disasters and the public at
> large – all of whom are impacted when members of the public, intending to
> support the victims of a disaster by contributing to the American Red Cross'
> disaster relief fund, instead unknowingly give their money and financial
> information to someone perpetrating a fraud.
>
>
>
> If ICANN adopts Formulation 1 as the purpose of Whois and subsequently
> revises its contractual policies to conform to Formulation 1, the American
> Red Cross will no longer have the information it needs to quickly shut down
> unauthorized and fraudulent RED CROSS web sites.  The number of victims
> unknowingly using these unauthorized RED CROSS web sites to donate after a
> disaster will likely increase, and the money will not reach its intended
> target – the victims of the disaster.   In the long run, reduced public
> confidence in the integrity of online donation sites could reduce the
> ability of the American Red Cross, and similar organizations, to use the
> Internet to raise funds quickly and efficiently to help disaster victims and
> respond to emergencies.
>
>
>
> I urge ICANN not to adopt Formulation 1.
>
>
>
> Respectfully submitted,
>
>
>
> Julie A. Ortmeier
>
> Senior Counsel
>
> American Red Cross
>
> 2025 E St., N.W.
>
> Washington, D.C. 20006
>
> Phone (202) 303-5356
>
> Fax (202) 303-0146
>
> OrtmeierJ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
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> Counsel at the American Red Cross and may be confidential or privileged.
> The information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity
> named above.  If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any
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>
>
>
> If you have received this e-mail message in error, please notify me by
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>
>