The original purpose of www.theinternetchallenge.com was to be illustrative of the
problem: NOT comprehensive.You've got to bear in mind that at the outside the
fraud issue was being marginalised (and I wouldn't want the scale of the fraud to
be marginalised in this forum)
The 1900 names on the site are placed there to illustrate
the NATURE of the problem, not the scale of it. For legal reasons I have not set
out to suggest that all names on the list are fraudulent. Nevertheless I am happy
to propose that the majority are.
The reason the names are added slowly is partly
because I DO try to check them one by one, but mostly because I am a family man with
a job to hold down. But slowly the number grows and grows.
At the present time
I have a further 13000 names which I have still to check through.
I must have looked
at this problem closer than most, and have expended many hours, and I am clear in
my own mind that in the end there will between 4000 and 6000 fraudulent names which
need challenging. However, this number does not take into account "hidden" fakes
(who can check ALL the Trademark registries in the world - certainly not me) and
it also does not take full account of foreign language generics.
I am in little
hurry. I have the whole of the autumn (and a much relished holiday period) to work
through THE WHOLE list, and I am convinced my little website may serve some useful
purpose if, by the end of the challenge period, I am able to present to the public
the majority of false names WHICH AFILIAS WILL HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO PERSONALLY
CHALLENGE.
So I'm not in a hurry, see?
You misunderstand if you think the rate
of additions to my list varies or dwindles. The bottom line is that ALL the fake
names have been registered, and the speed with which I add them will not alter that.
I
assure you I do not add names for "frivolous" purposes. There is nothing frivolous
about the defrauding of innocent people. I have taken the line that the best thing
is to be constructive. I have found a mixture of courtesy and indifference in my
dealings with officials from Afilias and ICANN. I am confused that they rejected
the Simple Solution (better known as Domebase).
But I've given up trying to be
hostile about this. I just want to slowly and methodically carry on building up the
picture. I receive between 25 and 50 e-mails a day from all over the world, listing
names for investigation. I feel grateful for the trouble people have gone to and
I hope even you will admit that the findings of these people have brought to light
some breathtaking examples of fraud and deceit.
Please don't minimise the scale
of this fraud.
1900 names on my list are only a fraction of the whole number. My
personal belief is that there will be between 10% and 12% of all .info names that
can be reasonably challenged because of clear and discernable fraud. In my opinion
there are a further 10% of registered names that are "hidden" frauds that will probably
not be challenged. In other words I believe the total fraud is around 20% of the
total number .info registered. There could be even more. How would any of us know?
MUCH
MORE SIGNIFICANT, as has been previously posted on this forum, is the fact that at
least 75% of the most significant generic names have been falsely registered - and
those names were the main names pre-registered honestly by landrush customers.
The
real "justice" issue is probably this:
NOT what % of names were false
BUT what
% of Landrush names were dishonestly stolen?
You'll find that figure is much higher
- and THAT'S why people feel so understandably aggrieved. They've been virtually
wiped out.
In a way, if 50% of all .info names were false it wouldn't make much
more difference, because 25% probably weren't wanted by anyone anyway.
But anyway,
www.theinternetchallenge will continue to step by step build up the whole picture.
It will take time. But if it's of any use to anyone, fine. And once again, thank
you, to the hundreds of people who have sent and continue to send in details.
And
I'd specially like to express respect for direct-i and Bhavin who have done a very
good job, and also of course the Domebase site.
I have tried to withdraw from this
forum, because I just want to do the website job and keep going at that. But I felt
I needed to correct the emphasis of the previous message. Goodnight! I'm off to bed!
There IS a life beyond the computer and despite some bad people it can be a wonderful
world. I have three beautiful children and if the growth of my site seems slow and
gradual, it's because (to be honest) they come first.