Dear Fellow Registrars:
In the last 38 years, I have
never resigned from any group of which I was a
member (job, technical committee,
Church or fraternity) as a protest. I
had learned the hard way that it
was impossible to change the group from
outside. Rather, I have stayed
engaged and did what I could to effect a
change from within. There were
times that it was tempting to resign from
the CORE Excom.Now I face a dilemma.
I am one of 13 Directors of Afilias. I was elected
for a three year term.
The terms were 3, 2 and 1 year based upon the
plurality of votes of other Afilias
members. I considered selection by my
peers to this position by such a
majority to be a weighty
responsibility. For those of us who understand
Japan, "responsibility" is
a heavy weight upon our consciences.
I have not
hidden my disappointment with the way the Sunrise Period turned
out. It
was an abomination. There were some serious miscalculations of
what might
happen. Many registrants have made Landrush applications in
good faith
only to see their selected domains cut out from under them
because of mostly
fraudulent applications made by registrants who did not
have trademarks -- many
of whom did not even make a credible pretense at
providing the required Trademark
data. While I was not a part of the
Technical Working Group, I was very
active in the Policy Working Group
which crafted the Sunrise policy.
I was
pleased when Afilias decided to become the challenger for obviously
fraudulent
applications.
I have worked with registrants and public observers to craft a way
to
provide fairness for the good faith applicants who have seen their
applications
cut out from under them.
It was my proposal that each registrar escrow its queue
of domains that
have been preempted -- to escrow them shortly after the Sunrise
Period with
Afilias. These would be run after the challenge period had
been completed
later this year. The reasons for escrowing them *now* rather
than later
was to prevent additional applications for the same domains
from being
collected, which would jeopardize the modicum of fairness we would
be able
to provide under my proposal.
During a teleconference on 13 August,
I asked for a simple list of SLDs
registered during the Sunrise Period.
Said list would permit us to set
aside the applications for domains already taken
during Sunrise. I was
told that there was no provision for providing the
SLDs but that I could
have the zone file. To obtain the zone file, it would
be necessary for us
to request it by submitting Appendix N. I submitted
our application on 14
August.
I was then told there was some ambiguity about
the way Appendix N was
originally drafted. I was to receive a corrected
copy immediately.
Last week, I spoke about our need by telephone with a senior
member of
Afilias management. We discussed the Appendix N again and our
need for the
zone file. He said the corrected copy would be sent.
Still nothing. I
am being pestered by applicants who don't want their applications
sent
during land rush. I am in agreement that they should not be submitted
to
Afilias until a credible system is developed for disposing of the Sunrise
registrations successfully challenged.
We still don't have the zone file nor
do we have an ETA for receiving it.
Most of our Directors and Officers are in
Montevideo. They will scarcely
get back to Newtown, PA in time for the
Landrush to start next
Wednesday. It is now almost too late to supply the
zone file or to solicit
other registrars to prepare a "post landrush queue" of
domains wrongly
registered during Sunrise.
While it is anathema to me to leave
Afilias, I need to look at the broader
picture. My responsibility does
not stop with the other 17 members of
Afilias. It extends to all Afilias
Accredited Registrars, to .info
registrants, to ICANN and to the Internet Community
in general.
I therefore believe that is would be best for us to dispose of the
firm
which holds the shares of Afilias stock. I shall not resign as a Director
at this time. However, whoever acquires our firm will have the option of
appointing my replacement for the remaining two years left in my
term.
Maybe he or she will be able to get the job done.
Sorry it has come to this.
PSI-Japan will remain an Afilias Accredited
Registrar for .info and I shall continue
be a constructive critic of
Afilias policies and practices.
Sincerely, BobC