Dear Aferreira,I regret that you have taken part, it seems unknowingly - as did
the rest of us for that matter - in a little piece of Internet history - which never
the less has exposed the the influential members of ICANN and the fact that its principles
and processes of operation do not serve the public good, but rather, a fraternity
of registrars.
Indeed, information that has come to me very recently may provide
evidence to lead one to believe that there was more than incompetence involved in
the ICANN executive agreeing - in the face of strong documented opposition - to use
the rollout model that has produced the greatest incidence of fraud the Internet
has or is ever likely to see again.
More people are now increasingly confident
that an independent, most likely judicial investigation of the process and individuals
involved, will result in the removal and replacement of the principles and principals.
This chapter is a dark one - however - the glare of media and judicial attention
on the shameful events of the Afilias .info rollout fiasco will result in there being
sweeping changes to the membership and the method of selection of members and their
accountability - which will ensure that there is never a repeat of the institutionalised
cybersquatting that has characterised the .info launch as a result of the failure
of the registry and its accredited registrars to take responsibility to purge bogus
Sunrise applications.
You have had no difficulty in finding registrars prepared
to deal with you in a manner to suggest that they are happy - indeed planned - to
take your money in return for nothing - to operate their business in an unethical,
and I suspect, it will be determined a criminal manner - a business accredited to
the registry Afilias and presumably ICANN approved.
You have experienced the Afilias
.info rollout as a bona fide Sunrise applicant. The majority of posters to
the ICANN public forum are bona fide Landrush applicants - however - Afilias has
forgotten the second phase of their .info rollout has been hyped as the Landrush
phase, when Landrush applicants could buy pre-registrations for a chance in the Landrush
round robin distribution to win a name of value to the applicant.
It is apparent,
in the absence of any countervailing advice from Afilias, that Afilias and ICANN
have decided, that despite the fact that as many as 25 000 of the 50 000 Sunrise
registrations will be the subject of challenge, Afilias with its .info registry in
tatters, will commence the Landrush phase without the Landrush applications for names
that they, Afilias, permitted to be fraudulently registered in Sunrise.
In relation
to your experience of a registrar prepared to take your money under false pretences,
the Landrush applicants as a class of applicants have had the same experience.
Landrush
applications - and there must be millions of them - for names which ICANN and Afilias
permitted to be registered to cybersquatters - rather than being assets or potential
assets to the Landrush applicants - the applications are now liabilities, at worst
worthless.
Registrar advice that I have received today is that Landrush applicants
will not receive refunds - minus administration fees - for applications for names
taken by registrars - some of them ICANN board members and other frauds - the registrars
plan to credit applicant's accounts for purchases of other .info or .com etc. domains.
I
am sure, like the Landrush applicants - you didn't expect an answer like this.
However Aferreira, I know of two planned publications, one academic the other commercial,
that will probably include your email with its surprise and disbelief at your first
hand encounter of fraud this evening - together with a great deal of other revealing
correspondence and documents.
I am so glad you posted - but I regret that you have
shared a common Sunrise experience of the Afilias .info rollout.