comments re the IMS/ISC application for .org

["Wilkinson, Jeffrey A." <jwilkinson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TWIMC at ICANN,

As webmaster and maintainer of several .org domans and a number of .com
domains, I wish to register my opinion on your decision about allocation of
control of the .org domain registry.   I am in favor of the bid submitted by
IMS/ISC per http://trusted.resource.org/.   I feel you have not given them
sufficiently serious consideration.

I have had a fair amount of experience dealing with Verisign/Network
Solutions for domain registration, renewal and record maintenance and I have
never yet been impressed with their handling of their business, either
before or after Verisign gained control of Network Solutions.  Their poor
handling of domains has (so far) only caused me minor hassles, with few
means to contact a reasonable human being for resolution.  

I have heard from quite a few people who have had far more serious problems,
including loss of registry control due to poor netsol systems, renewal
policies and their seeming-eagerness to resell domains quickly to others.
Their poor policies and management often result in the long-held domains of
churches, various non-profit orgs and others ending up in the hands of
domain speculators (who sometimes act as black-mailers) or porn site
operators.  Getting control of your domain back is then either impossible or
very costly.  This has been document quite extensively in the press as well,
yet netsol has done little to improve it's handling of it's business.

Based upon that record, I would definitely prefer that you select ISM/ISC
for the .org domain.
This domain is critical and needs to be run well.  IMS/ISC has the
experience, motivation, and capabilities to run it properly, demonstrably
better than verisign or other commercial bidders.  The .org domain should be
run as a public service, with goals and policies focused on that mission,
not upon most profit gained.

Further, this allows you to experiment with a variety of models for
registrars.  The open source, non-profit model offered by IMS/ISC would be
an excellent alternative to the commercial, profit-only models offered by
other bidders.  This promotes exploration of diversity in internet
maintenance that can strengthen the system as diversity of life-forms
strengthens any environment.   Let's not just copy the poor model that we
already have.

Sincerely,
Jeff Wilkinson
--
Jeff Wilkinson 
jw@centralpc.org
wilk4.com 


A few supporting articles for verisign's problems:

Domains Reregistered for Distribution of Unrelated Content: A Case Study of
"Tina's Free Live Webcam"
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/edelman/renewals/

Over 4,500 Domains Point Users To Webcam Porn Site, Newsbytes. 4/22/2002
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176060.html

Warning to Christian Website Owners: Do not let your domain name expire or
it is likely to be taken over by a Porn dealer! Good News Web Designers
Assoc.
http://gnwda.org/alert.htm

New Path to Web for Pornography. NY Times, 3/28/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/28/technology/circuits/28SWEB.html

Porn Sites Hijack Expired Domain Names. PC World. 3/8/2002.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,87824,00.asp

Invasion of the "Porn Nappers". Business Week, 3/7/2002
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/mar2002/nf2002037_2837.htm?c=bwt
echmar08&n=link3&t=email

Lurid Links. NetworkWorld Fusion News. 3/4/2002.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/0304pornlinks.html

Porn sites snare old domain names. The Detroit News. 2/4/2002.
http://detnews.com/2002/technology/0204/17/a01-467610.htm

Sites Forlorn When Reborn as Porn. Wired. 12/10/2001.
http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,48903,FF.html

Cape Web site no longer master of its domain. 7/7/2001.
http://www.aplus.lycos.com/services/domain-news-7-7-01.html

Even Big Domain Names Aren't Hard to Hijack. Business Week, 6/13/2000 
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/june2000/nf00613f.htm

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