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Username: antipodes
Date/Time: Sun, September 16, 2001 at 1:17 AM GMT
Browser: Netscape Communicator V4.74 using Windows 98
Subject: add one more to Bob Connor's team

Message:
 

 
I am prepared to take any amount of flack on this one, but add me to the team of those who have assessed Bob Connor as a sane, sensible, knowledgable and moderate voice for a fair shake for the customers in the fiasco of the ICANN/Afilias .info rollout.

Compare Bob to the jerk-off who played a sniper's role here for a time, who in his superior way wrote that he had spent only two weeks preregistering .info names - which after they were taken in Sunrise - he simply preregistered another bundle of $25000 names. lol

Some people have credibility - some don't.

It is for people like me that people like Bob and Richy have been putting in the long days and nights behind the sceens, trying to protect the investments (and hopes and dreams - we were all going to change the world for the better and change our own lives and lifestyles - had we won the .info lottery) of your average Internet citizens, the legitimate Sunrise applicants and your legitimate Landrush applicants.

If there is not a postponement of the Landrush until all fraudulently registered Sunrise names are purged, or there is not a preservation of all Landrush applications for names already fraudulently registered, then when the balls drop on whatever bloody date the lottery will be, then it will all be over for people like me who invested enormous amounts of time and energy, and for my pocket - money.

If the balls drop without the implementation of a proposal like Bob's, the best I can expect will be a few names - which without any one of the 10 or 12 "critical" names on my wish list taken in Sunrise - will have greatly diminished application and value.

I am not one of those people who can turn around and preregister a swag of new names to fit my business plans or my bank balance.  My race is run if Bob's voice is not heard and his proposal not implemented.

I completely understand the frustrations of those who want the Landrush to be over and to be able to get on with their business - I for one wished I had never become aware of .info - because it has already cost me too much.

However, unless there are continued attempts to have Afilias have a change of heart - make that read, make Afilias respond to the circumstances in a responsible manner in regard to the legitimate expectations of Landrushers to have their preregistrations honoured - then Afilias/ICANN will have again failed those who have vested them with the authority and responsibility to manage the Internet and a new registry, and all the customers of Afilias through its approved and affiliated registrars, who should maintain their protest for their reasonable expectations and rights to be dealt with honestly when dealing with registrars and with registries.

If one is able to look dispassionately at the relationship between   Afilias and ICANN by way of their common personnel, one would be tempted to say that it would need men and women of the highest integrity in these institutions to be on guard for abuses of the interests of the customer or public, for human nature being what it is, and history being such a good record of the abuses of authority when industries are permitted self regulation.

A dispassionate bystander observing the unfolding events of the Afilias .info would be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that the men and women of integrity within ICANN and Afilias are not those in influential positions and that in every instance the short term benefits of the influential individuals involved have been placed before the longterm benefits of their organisations and those with whom they deal, the customer.

There are thank heavens, men and women of integrity in what has been so glaringly shown to be a pretty grubby business as practiced by many - from the top to the bottom.

Unless there is passionate and reasoned protest - ICANN - Afilias - Neulevel - whomever - will conduct business as usual, in the manner that has dismayed so many of us with .info experience - and that is simply not good enough.

Short term interests are being served at too great a cost to be tolerated by the Internet community and the general public, with wellfounded and legitimate expectations and rights to be treated fairly and equitably by those in authority.

Unless there is continued passionate and reasoned protest by those affected by the Afilias .info fiasco, then why should we expect anyone else to do it for us, and why should we expect that those currently vested with authority to change to a mode of practice which includes accountability, transparency, sustainability, and broad participation.

If the only good to come from the Afilias .info rollout is the exposure of the men and women of Afilias and ICANN as being responsible for the development of a culture within their organisations which is selfinterested rather than for the public good,
then only with sustained, passionate and reasoned protest will this exposure provide the opportunity for a change of culture.  I believe that only through a purging of the current influential personnel and their mode of practice will the culture change and future Internet users have reason to believe their interests are being served and that they can trust all registries and registrars.

At this monent, Afilias and ICANN and too many registrars stand disgraced by the opportunism they have displayed during the Afilias rollout.  This is the moment they would like us to give up out of frustration, walk away and get back to business, or just look the other way.

At this moment we have to assure them that those of us who have invested so much and been given no chance at all to participate in an equitable Landrush are not going to give up in frustration, walk away or just look the other way.

I am pleased to say that I feel I have become acquainted with some very fine people during what is really a very sad affair.  Unlike those who have orchestrated the Afilias .info rollout events, these fine people who include the likes of Bob and Richy are people who stand up for themselves - and for others - and take some flack - for reasonable and equitable solutions.

Now I will shut the f*ck up for a moment - but don't expect me to FOAD - f*ck-off and die, the way Afilias and ICANN would wish.


     

 


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