[gnso-irtp-b-jun09] Charter Question (C): Change of Registrant

["James M. Bladel" <jbladel@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Team:


According to our charter, question (c) asks:

 "c) Whether special provisions are needed for a change of registrant
when it occurs near the time of a change of registrar. The policy does
not currently deal with change of registrant, which often figures in
hijacking cases;"

In advance of tomorrow's call, I wanted to reopen the definitional work
regarding "Change of Registrant."   Please recall that I took a stab at
creating working definitions for various concepts early in the life of
the WG:

http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-irtp-b-jun09/msg00035.html 

In which this concept was tentatively defined as:


"2. CHANGE OF REGISTRANT: The SHOPPER changes the registration WHOIS
data for "Registrant" record. May also include changing 
other contacts, (Admin, Tech, Billing) but the focus here is on the
Registrant. Changes to WHOIS records that only modify other records 
do not constitute a CHANGE OF REGISTRANT."  (Note that we didn't get too
far in defining "SHOPPER" or "CUSTOMER"...)


So, here are some questions that might start off our discussions
tomorrow:

*  What is a "Change of Registrant"?  How does it differ from a routine
update / modification of the record published in WHOIS?
*  What fields must be modified to indicate that a "Change of
Registrant" has occurred?  Can optional fields be included in this list?
*  Does ICANN need a defined "Change of Registrant" process or
definition in the IRTP (or elsewhere?)  Some ccTLDs define this function
as a "Trade"
*  Are gTLD registrars obligated to offer "Change of Registrant"
operations?  How does this impact their respective Registration
Agreement(s)?