Dear Vint and Hal,One
week ago, Friday 17 August, I emailed you both expressing my
disappointment at
the scale of the cybersquatting evident in the .info
Sunrise phase and the affects
on Landrush applicants of this fraud and
the proposed Afilias solution to release
fraudulently registered names
after a purging of fraudulent registrations, after
the Landrush phase.
In that mail I said that I felt that Afilias and ICANN must
bear the
blame for what had occurred, effectively institutionalised
cybersquatting,
and that if the Afilias management had not the will to
fulfill Afilias's ethical
obligations to the Landrush applicants, then
ICANN must step in.
I said that
Afilias had seemingly forgotten the Landrush applicants who in good faith had purchased
their contracts with Afilias approved
registrars for a chance to win prized names
that had not been claimed by those with IP rights in the Sunrise phase.
I asked
you to to waste no time in producing an Afilias announcement
addressing the concerns
and interests of the Landrush applicants.
I concluded that mail with the request
that you both acknowledge receipt of my mail and that you each advise me what you
were doing personally to fulfill the reasonable expectations of the Landrush applicants.
A
week has passed, Afilias on August 23 has made another public
announcement without
use of the terms "Landrush "or" Landrush
applicants", and continues to seek business
for the .info registry or
register which you have permitted to be hijacked by
those prepared to
lie about their intellectual property rights to specific words/names
during
the period that Afilias's own .info Roll-out Schedule terms "an exclusive period
of time for trademark and service mark holders to
register their marks..."
I
have not yet changed my mind about your being honest and honorable
men, as an
equitable solution is still available, as Landrush is still
two weeks away - however,
your tardiness in regard to my emailed request indicates that you are both short
on common courtesy.
I again provide you with the opportunity to reply to my mail
and to
advise me what each of you is doing in regard to the reasonable
expectations
of the Landrush applicants for a level playing field and a fair shake.
This mail,
unlike my first, will appear in public fora.
Yours sincerely,
John Byth