Forward on behalf of Business Constituency: Request regarding VeriSign's proposed registry service

[Patrick Jones <patrick.jones@xxxxxxxxx>]

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From: Marilyn Cade <marilynscade@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:56:35 -0700
To: Patrick Jones <patrick.jones@xxxxxxxxx>, <excomm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Pat Kane <pkane@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Request regarding VeriSign's proposed registry service







April 13, 2010


Dear ICANN staff


As Chair of the Business Constituency, I am writing  regarding VeriSign's RSEP 
proposal for its proposed new registry service, "Domain Exchange Service" in 
the .net TLD.  On behalf of the BC executive leadership [ExComm], I request 
that ICANN Staff make the preliminary determination that this proposal requires 
further study because it could raise significant issues with regards to 
security and stability and/or competition.
The BC leadership's concerns are that, although not intended, the proposal may 
permit resumption of commercial "domain tasting" activities which have been 
curbed by the AGP Limits policy. In order to determine the implications of such 
risks, more time and analysis is needed to ensure such service does not pose 
significant consequences affecting the stability of the domain name system.


As we understand the proposed service submitted by VeriSign, the Domain Name 
Exchange will permit domain name applicants to "repurpose" or exchange a domain 
name registration that has significant time remaining until expiration. For the 
price of a single domain name, applicants will be permitted to register at 
least 12 domain names a year.  As an example of the potential volume of the 
service offering, if an applicant spent a mere $800 to register 100 domain 
names, this service would permit the applicant to register 1200 different 
domain names for that initial investment, over the course of a year. On its 
face, the increased churn of domain names and ability to monetize names for a 
short period of time appears to raise red flags for increased domain name abuse.


The situation regarding harmful and abusive registrations of domain names 
associated with brands continues to be a significant burden in both costs to 
trademark holders and to users in terms of fraud and in other abusive uses of 
such names. As we all remember, after extensive policy debate and work by the 
ICANN community, ICANN specifically restricted the ability of registrars to 
register domain names for five days or less under the AGP to deter abusive 
practices, such as cyber squatting.  Despite the closing of this loophole, 
business owners still face thousands of instances of new infringements today 
because cyber squatters are willing to pay a relatively low yearly registration 
fee for the high quality names, including trademarks that drive traffic.  
Although VeriSign is permitting applicants to register domain names for 30 days 
rather than 5 days or less and is not offering refunds, (different from the 
AGP), the proposed service reasonably raises concerns that permitting 
applicants to register a dozen domain names for the price of a single domain 
name will invite speculators to game the system and use it for domain name 
abuse.
Certainly, our concern is whether the new service would facilitate abuse. 
However, in this case, it is also reasonable to ask staff to explore whether 
VeriSign's new service might be used so excessively that it would cause the 
same kinds of stability problems. We do understand that VeriSign's proposal 
would make changes by modifying the registry record - not by an 'add/delete'.  
Nonetheless, further exploration is needed to determine levels of use that 
could generate stability concerns, whether the use was for tasting or for some 
new form of domain recycling.

We appreciate that VeriSign has described steps that it has taken up front to 
make their service more "transparent" but many of our members do not believe 
that the steps they have taken thus far are sufficient.  None of the proposed 
remedies VeriSign lists thus far actually prevent the registration of 
trademarks or prevent domain name abuse at the front end of the service but 
appear instead to place the entire burden, administrative costs and enforcement 
costs on businesses and brand holders to deal with potential abuses.  The BC 
has an extensive list of concerns and questions about the service and its 
proposed remedies that it would be glad to provide to ICANN separately as it 
begins its analysis of the proposed service.
While the service as currently proposed applies only to .net, we may anticipate 
that if the current proposal is approved, VeriSign will next seek to extend the 
service to .com, where the potential for abuse and churn in the domain name 
system are even more pronounced.  Given all these concerns, we urge ICANN to 
provide sufficient time to study this proposal, its affect on the stability of 
the domain name system, potential to contribute to abuse,  and its potential 
ramifications for all affected stakeholders and to post the proposal for 
further public comment.


On behalf of the BC Executive Committee

Marilyn Cade, BC Chair

CC:  BC ExComm
       BC List
       Pat Kane, VeriSign


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