[gnso-rap-dt] "slamming" and law enforcement

["Greg Aaron" <gaaron@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There has been a lot of action against entities doing fake renewal notices
and related deceptive practices.  This is not a new issue, and has been
handled by law enforcement and court cases over the years. 

 

I'm thinking that "pre-registration" solicitations are outside of scope for
ICANN do deal with - it's an issue of trade practices and sometimes fraud,
and a name has not yet been registered.

 

A few cases are..

 

In 2003, the Domain Registry of America
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Registry_of_America>  were ordered by
the Federal Trade Commission
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Trade_Commission>  not to make
misrepresentations after telling consumers that their domain registrations
were expiring, leading many consumers to switch their domain name registrar.

 

In 2004, the UK Advertising Watchdog Authority (ASA) slammed Domain Registry
of Europe over similar mailings.

 

"As early as 2001, the Canadian Competition Bureau issued a warning to
Canadian businesses to take caution before paying what appeared to be
invoices.. And last year, a federal judge in New York ordered
<http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/print.php/_1562291>  Domain Registry of
America to stop telling Register.com customers that the two companies were
affiliated in an attempt to get their business." 

 [
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/08/06/legal_action_threatened_against_doma
in/ ]

 

New Zealand Domain Registration Ltd,  was found guilty by Australia's
Federal court in 2004 of false and misleading conduct under the country's
Trade Practices Act.  (A$1.3 million damages awarded against them, after the
Federal Court found the parties responsible had copied UK domain registrar
Nominet's database of customers. )

http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/0B56ACE3E2A579C7CC2571C30007FDE
7 

 

 

 

**********************************

Greg Aaron

Director, Key Account Management and Domain Security

Afilias

vox: +1.215.706.5700

fax: 1.215.706.5701

gaaron@xxxxxxxxxxxx 

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