RE: [gnso-vi-feb10] The potential harm of "resellers"

[Milton L Mueller <mueller@xxxxxxx>]

[from p. 13, CRAI report]

> relationships, registry ownership of resellers represents a potential
> loophole in ICANN's registry agreement terms that could have unintended
> effects. For example, a registry that owns a reseller may have an
> economic incentive to discriminate in favor of the registrar that supplies 
> its affiliated reseller by providing that registrar with better access to
> released names.

Here we get to the all-important distinction between incumbent TLDs and new 
TLDs, which I have been harping on for weeks.

This worry about discrimination assumes that the name space administered by the 
gTLD is a well-known and valued space where multiple registrars compete for 
access to released names. In other words, this is an argument that certainly 
applies to .com, .net, .org, .de, .uk and other incumbent TLDs. 

But what if it is a new, unestablished gTLD? Are we assuming that every new 
name space will be as sought after and crowded as .com? Is that a realistic 
assumption? 

What is even more interesting about this "problem," however, is that it has in 
fact existed for nearly a decade. Can anyone point to specific harms caused? 
Are there any documented instances of registries using this loophole and 
complaints of discrimination as a result? 

If one _cannot_ document specific harms caused by this loophole in existing, 
well-established TLDs such as .com, can someone please explain to me why this 
is a problem for unestablished, new gTLDs coming out of the gate? 

--MM