Remember there is a huge difference, Sunrise was going
on for weeks, there wasn't a floodgate of 700,000 names to process in one shot. I'm
guessing people who resorted to faking TradeMarks probably used the cheapest registrar
and as such you probably had 4-6 registrars doing most of the submissions.As far
as Round Robins go, there are more than one way you can skin-the-cat. Typical to
their fashion, Afilias left that one wide open to interpretation (they borrow a page
from Nostrdamos or Alan Greenspan). Again keeping things vague and somewhat obscure
gives you more than one way out. You can see that style quite clearly most recently
in their use of "On or around September 27..."
Let's face it, we can't win, they
will do what they want when they want to. They don't have to report to nobody and
as far as they are concerned, next Monday they will anounce to the world that the
launch was a smashing success with over 250,000 names registered on that one day
alone (sounds very impressive for the general consumption of mainstream media).
In
a few weeks it will all be forgotten until they have another blurb about how they
are evicting cybersquatters and more publicity for their big event (Landrush-II).
In 6 months when people forget about the mess we're in, LaPlante will be the toast
of the town and then he will probably move on to run the marketing division of HOMPAQ
(HP-Compaq) or something like that.
Just another mediocre individual
helped by following the how-to book of political spin-misters and Washington DC lawyers.
You see it everyday in all walks of life and this is by no means any different.