Whatever the obvious technical and public relations deficiencies of Afilias Ltd.,
observers of the Afilias .info launch fiasco could never say the principals of Afilias
and those in ICANN who approved the Afilias Registry Agreement lacked daring.The
sort of daring it takes to orchestrate a public launch plan which incorporates insider
income generating opportunities such as: 1) being so aware of and so concerned about
the likelihood of TM fraud, that the safeguards outlined in Afilias's registry bid
document were omitted from the ICANN/Afilias Registry Agreement; 2) preparedness
to process fraudulent Sunrise applications of an Afilias Director and numerous registrars;
3) simultaneously selling preregistrations to Sunrise frauds and Landrush applicants
for the same names; 4) charging bona fide Sunrise applicants to undo the fraud aided
and abetted by the Registry; 5) offering the defrauded Sunrise applicants no compensation
for their time, energy and money lost in a launch designed and promoted as an opportunity
to cheat the honest members of the Internet community(think of SpyProductions and
others); 6) unwillingness to communicate effectively with stake holders - the defrauded
Landrushers - on matters of fact which rightly concerned them; 7) a preparedness
to sell for a third time, opportunities to register 10,000 odd fraudulently registered
Sunrise names.
I think that it may appear to many to be the type of daring which
occurs when there is collusion between a corporation and regulatory authority who
behave as though they have imunity from the laws and requirements for public accountability
which govern the rest of us.
In circumstances such as these, it is only with the
assistance of an insider that the public learns the truth.
Afilias via Roland laPlante
would have liked the world to believe that the Afilias .info launch had been a raging
success, that instances of fraud were a fraction of what we learned was the truth
via Richard Henderson's theinternetchallenge.com, and that "an equitable return to
the public" was planned for disputed/challenged Sunrise names.
Without Richard's
insider and Richard's website which made the truth public, we would only have had
Afilias spin/lies.
Even with the people fighting for truth and a fair deal for
the Internet community stung by the Afilias .info launch, Afilias look to still be
operating with the sort of daring demonstrated by those with friends in high places.
Only
with the type of community action demonstrated by the Richard will the likes of Afilias
Ltd. and the scam beneficiaries in ICANN be brought to justice and the Internet community
regain confidence that the domain business is straight.