The large number (hundreds) of fake Sunrise registrations listed for Yesnic and Joker.com
(aka Siegfried Langenbach) on the Internet Challenge have started to be confirmed
by WIPO.For example, www.atoz.info was submitted in the name of Siegfried Langenbach
of Joker.com. This name has been successfully challenged as having fake Trademark
data, and WIPO have taken away the name.
For example, www.med.info, www.joy.info,
www.life.info were all submitted in the name of Yesnic. These names have been successfully
challenged as having fake Trademark data, and WIPO have taken away these names.
I
have to assume that Afilias will now challenge the hundreds of other names registered
by these two registrars and listed on the Internet Challenge.
However, this raises
other issues of real concern with regard to consumer protection.
These two companies
have now been shown by WIPO to have registered names with fake trademarks. By so
doing, they have defrauded other applicants who paid pre-registration fees to enter
the round robin for the same names. These two companies also breached Afilias rules.
They appear to have lied and deceived.
BUT...
Afilias is still recommending them
to customers as "accredited" registrars on their own Afilias website!
Does this
mean that Afilias condones corruption?
Does this mean that Afilias cares for honest
customers?
Does this mean that we, the internet public, should trust the Afilias
website and trust Afilias?
And has ICANN anything to say about these established
acts of deception? Any sanctions? Any statement at all to the Internet public?
Does
ICANN just preside over corruption and "let it happen"?
Where does this leave the
customer?
As usual, I invite Hal Lubsen of Afilias or Vint Cerf of ICANN to comment
and explain why these actions by registrars have been tolerated.
Is it acceptable
to cheat the public?
Is it acceptable to continue granting accreditation to registrars
that have been shown to submit fake information and, as a result, defraud honest
customers?
But then again, Hal Lubsen's own company DomainBank has knowingly submitted
ineligible data for many .info registrations and charged customers for doing so,
making a profit out of fraudulent applications.
So how can Hal Lubsen, in his capacity
as CEO of Afilias, take action against other registrars who may be frauds?
And
yet surely the public have a right to be protected? Surely registrars who have committed
fraud should lose their accreditation? Surely ICANN has a responsibility to protect
the consumer and safeguard the integrity of the system?
Is the domain industry
just "bandit country" and devil take the consumer? And what damage does that do to
the honest registrars?