[gnso-pednr-dt] "Competition" in the Secondary Domain Name Market

["Michael D. Palage" <michael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello All:

Yesterday I became rather passionate on one of the statements that I believe
Jeff made in connection with competition in the secondary domain name
market. Instead of only utilizing our weekly calls to expand upon issues, I
thought the use of this listserv would be a good means to deep dive on this
particular topic.

As you may recall, the original redemption grace period was intended to have
two phases. Phase One was the ability of a registrant to recover a domain
name that had been deleted through the original sponsoring registrar. Phase
Two, envisioned, but never implemented, was the ability of a registrant to
have choice in which registrar they recovered a domain name. 

Now while there is no shortage of people shouting from the rooftops about
choice and competition in the domain name marketplace, there actually exists
a monopoly in the expired domain name market where it appears that the
original sponsoring registrar gets to determine the when and how of the
reallocating/deleting expired domain names. I stand by the statement I made
yesterday on the call that registrars are functioning as quasi registries in
determining the allocation processes by which expired names sponsored by
them are reallocated.

Therefore, if we are looking to promote the openness, transparency and
predictability upon which a registrant after expiration can recover an
expired name, we need to address the apparent currently monopoly in the
marketplace where than registrant has but one choice to recover his/her
domain name.

Best regards,

Michael D. Palage