Not 900 [was: Re: [gnso-vi-feb10] VI -- alternative thinking]

[Eric Brunner-Williams <ebw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I made the following comment in response to Dan Halloran's cite of
"900 registrars" at the January DC Consultation, which was in part
about Vertical Integration (Margie's section), though the comment by
Dan, and my response, and the follow-ups, occurred in the context of
registry contract amendment (Dan's section).


"This is a follow up to Dan's 900 registrars cite, made at Seoul and
here today as a contract management justification for the problem
before us. There are 529 ICANN accredited registrars in the US, of
these 4 companies control 318: eNom (116), Directi/PDR (47), Dotster
(51), and Snapnames (104). Another 122 accreditations are owned by
only 23 companies. What is left are 136 registrars that appear
independent. So, that would make 163 the realistic count not 529. So,
just considering the US portion (5 and a quarter of the 9 hundred),
there are really only 1 and a third hundred. If the same distribution
exists for the remaining 3 and 3/4ths hundred, there is really only
two hundred actual contracted parties, or two times an order of
magnitude less than the number offered to justify the problem before us."

I'm not making a comment on the substance of Ching Chiao's note, only
on the "900 registrars" and its use, which I think detracts from the
clarity of the actual issues, whether the discussion is about contract
management, or about the status and roles of parties to a contract.

Eric

P.S. Corrections to the units under management welcome.