six months embargo on public announcements that it is
taking action against the principals of Afilias and its registrars for responsiblity
for the events of the .info Sunrise - 1) failure to adhere to its undertaking detailed
in its .info bid document to take the necessary measures to prevent TM fraud and
cybersquatting; 2) 10,000 or more instances of cybersquatting; 3) profiting from
the registration of 10,000 or more fraudulent Sunrise applications requiring applicants
to hold qualifying TMs; 4) profiting from the sale of Landrush preregistrations while
accepting payment for fraudulent Sunrise applications for the same names; 5) failure
to deal with Landrush applicants in a responsible, accountable and ethical manner
after the event of fraudulent Sunrise registrations, namely, to give standing to
Landrush applicants at the time of the distribution of challenged Sunrise registrations
- or - failure to ensure the refunding of all fees paid by Landrush applicants for
names fraudulently registered in Sunrise phase; 6) failure to note while hand checking
registrar applications that TM details were fraudulent and that some registrars were
exceeding the number of registrations permitted by ICANN; 7) failure to ensure that
registrars were not accepting payment from Landrush and bona fide Sunrise applicants
for names Registrar Reserved or simply being registered by registrars in their own
name; 7) failure to take action when instances of abuse of public trust we made common
knowledge, namely, a) the removal of BoD member Govinda Leopold and the cancellation
of her fraudulent .info registrations, and b) cancellation of fraudulent registrar
registrations and fines imposed for each instance of abuse of trust.It is apparent
that the current principals of Afilias are operating the new .info registry in a
manner contrary to the long term welfare or benefit of the Internet and the Internet
community.
The current principals of Afilias appear to have established a corrupt
culture as demonstrated by Afilias's amnesia concerning Landrush applicants, the
manner in which they (don't) communicate with their customers, and the way in which
some .info registrars were permitted to behave like used car salesmen, which puts
honest members of the Internet community at financial risk and have diminished public
trust in registries, registrars and ICANN.
If there are honest and responsible
members of ICANN, please make a public statement indicating that ICANN does not approve
of the way in which the .info launch has been handled, and that ICANN plans the most
stringent actions and penalties against the Afilias principals responsible for bringing
the registry, a great many registrars and ICANN into disrepute.
Please ICANN,
take action to reestablish public trust in your institution and bring changes to
the operation of Afilias so that it will not always be a name synonymous with greed
and incompetence.