I think it's time to show every registrar that they are going to be held publicly
accountable for their conduct.I have therefore posted a page for every Afilias-accredited
Registrar and I am calling for support.
I have received e-mails from hundreds of
people in the internet community and I'm inviting all the people who have been sending
in false names to send details of these registrars for me to post.
I also intend
to post a "Top 20" and "Bottom 20" chart along the lines of the multi-applicant charts.
My
own main contribution will be an analysis of which registrars were happy to send
in multiple applications with false details, thereby defrauding their Landrush customers
(and the general public).
I'm also looking for examples of extortionate charges,
charges for names already registered at Sunrise (as Domain Bank was practising all
the way through the Sunrise Period), undisclosed credit card authorisations, and
any other kind of unacceptable practice.
I would prefer to limit the contributions
to people who have proved their bona fide credentials over the past weeks on this
forum or in e-mail contact to me.
I want to publicly advise every single registrar
now: you can run but you can't hide.
My intention is to shame unacceptable conduct.
I
also believe the internet community should now move on to consider the whole issue
of democratic accountability in the regulation of registrars and the administration
at present carried out by ICANN.
To this end, I hope The Internet Challenge will
indeed challenge the self-supporting 'establishment' and pose questions for governments
and ordinary internet users to consider : because the present establishment
and the present .info Registry Afilias have, in my opinion, abdicated the very great
trust and responsibility that was placed on them; abdicated from fair decisions that
were in their power to take; abdicated from the responsibility to protect customers;
abdicated from the need to apply scrutiny over falsehoods; abdicated from effective
action when action could and should have been taken; abdication from communication
when open communication was vital.
Abdication normally implies replacement by somebody
else.
Afilias: these are my personal opinions.
I believe you have left an injustice
unattended.
I believe you will have to answer for that.
But this is only the
beginning. I agree with an earlier poster that we shall have to hunt you corporately
and individually - and, alas, ICANN officials as well...
Because when you had the
power to intervene, and protect, and do right, you chose not to...
Let me serve
notice that you will be confronted repeatedly and called to answer for your actions.
Every member of ICANN. Every member of Afilias. Every Registrar.
And everyone in
the internet community will be able to read, in detail, what you did. This is hardly
started. It is going to grow and grow.
And STILL we have no deletions!
And STILL
we have no advice to registrars concerning the just case of their pre-registrants!
And
STILL we have no open and public communication about issues like the Domebase proposals!
So
be it.
Now it's time for accountability. I invite the patient and decent among
you to step-by-step send me your information on specific registrars and on Afilias
and on ICANN. I will be allocating specific companies to certain individuals for
investigation.
More importantly this evidence will be invaluable for those who
argue the case for the reformation or removal of ICANN in its present capacities.
Because
it is imperative that this debacle never happens again and that will best be achieved
when every vested-interest is removed from the regulation of the Internet industries,
and the administration of the Internet is carried out by people wholly detached from
personal interests, and wholly accountable to the community as a whole.