Re: [gnso-dow123] ICANN staff message to registrars about accuracy of registrant data

[Ross Rader <ross@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Tim -

While I understand that you are just the messenger, I feel compelled to 
point out what a waste of time it is to forward substantively null 
accusations such as this to the registrar mailing list. If there are 
specific issues that can be addressed, they should be brought to our 
attention. The message below is completely devoid of any useful 
information that anyone can act upon. Has anyone brought the Whois Data 
Problem Reporting System to Mr. Larue's attention? Have the domain 
details been forwarded to the appropriate registrar for actioning? Does 
the NTIA know that ICANN is neither a consumer protection agency, nor an 
enforcer for spam-hunters? Tim - to what extent have you raised 
awareness about the private-sector led cooperative efforts such as the 
reg-ops and cspam groups who deal with the operational fallout caused by 
whois inaccuracy and internet spam on a daily basis?

In Wellington we heard at great length that registrants were losing 
domain names because of poor registrar practices. We heard a vivid story 
about a domain which had been previously registered by a rape crisis 
center and purchased post-expiry and pointed at an advertisement for an 
internet pornography site. We have heard from Paul Twomey that the 
expiration policies are being used by registrars in a manner that was 
not intended and that the policy should be revisited.

In Wellington, when I proposed an examination of these issues at the 
Council meeting, neither the registrant community, nor the registry 
community was willing to endorse the creation of an issues report on 
this issue. Despite the handwaving at all other levels about the serious 
nature of the inequities being perpetrated by the registrar community, 
it was not possible to garner sufficient traction with the Council on 
this issue to move forward with an issues report.

The lesson that I took away from this is that while a lot of people 
don't mind publicly complaining about problems and laying them at the 
feet of the registrar community, very few are willing to actually help 
identify specific problems that can be solved, or working to solve 
general issues at a policy level.

With the greatest of respect, I would like to ask you to request that 
someone from ICANN followup with the NTIA and help them come to 
understand the answers to the questions I posed in the first paragraph 
of this message. It is imperative that they be made to understand that 
ICANN and the registrar community is part of the solution, not part of 
the problem. I hope that the private sector can count on the NTIA and 
the rest of the US Government to participate in the same way.

Regards,

-ross

> From: owner-registrars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:owner-registrars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tim Cole
> Sent: Friday, 7 April 2006 3:17 AM
> To: Registrars
> Subject: [registrars] FW: sending letters to my government
> representatives regarding ICANN failure to monitor
>
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>  
> I have been asked to forward the email below by the NTIA in the U.S.
> Department of Commerce.  It echoes a message that we hear often at ICANN
> about Whois accuracy.
>  
> Regards,
>
> Tim Cole
> Chief Registrar Liaison
> Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers            
>
>
>  
>
> Fwd: sending letters to my government representatives regarding ICANN
> failure to monitor
>
>
>     To whom it may concern,
>
>         I recently received SPAM to an email account from an entity
> which whom I have no business or interest with.
>         In looking up that entities domain in the whois lookup, it was
> evident that the registrar for that domain had
>         no rules for detecting even the simplest fraudulent
> registration. What I saw was an invalid zipcode, city,
>         and telephone contact number for the domain listed in the email.
>
>         It is pathetic that there is NO facilities to address this, that
> this 'event' even happened, and that the registrar
>         of this domain is permitted to continue operation while not
> having implemented basic validation of validity of
>         it's customers.
>
>         As I stated in the subject, I will be notifying my local, state
> and federal government representatives of this
>         failure and ask that provisions be mandated for each registrar
> to validate customer data and that ICANN provide
>         a policing policy and automated verification process for this.
>
>
>     Doug LaRue


--

                       -rr








                "Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions.
                                           All life is an experiment.
                            The more experiments you make the better."
                        - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Contact Info:
Ross Rader
Director, Research & Innovation
Tucows Inc.
c. 416.828.8783

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