[wildcard-comments] BAD BAD BAD Idea and ABUSE of position

["Tim Kowalsky" <akropolis@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Verisign was hired to MANAGE the .com and .net domains.  Verisign was not
"given" those domains.  This is not the first time that Verisign has tried
to manipulate matter such that they "own" those domains.  Verisign was hired
to maintain the database long ago.  They later decided that the database was
their "property" -- that it was their data and that they owned it.  They
should have been fired then.

Verisign is the only company in a position to do what they have done, and
what they have done is counter to the interests of anyone but Verisign.
They have broken Internet protocols and interrupted the functioning of
software that depended on the Internet functioning in the accepted fashion
that it has always functioned.  In addition to launching their "service"
with no consultation with any of the parties it would affect, they have also
refused to stop what they are doing when told to by yourselves and in the
face of a huge amount of criticism from everyone else on the Internet.

It's high time that ICANN fired Verisign and gave the management of the
domain names to someone else.  It's high time that SOMEONE put Verisign in
their place.  The management of the tlds is a privileged position with
unique responsibilities and needs to be assigned to someone who will not be
motivated to do anything possible to maximize their profit.

A non-profit entity should be where Verisign currently sits.  Anyone else
will be tempted to follow Verisign's path and abuse their position.  The
only alternative to a non-profit that would make any sense would be a
situation such as public utilities in the United States, where rates are set
by a public utility commission which also exerts *great* amounts of control
over what the utility can and cannot do.  There is no wiggle room.  By law
the utilities must follow the dictates of the commissions.

ICANN has so far not acted in such a fashion.  If ICANN is not going to hand
over Verisign's position to a non-profit, then ICANN should remove the
contract from Verisign and ***force*** whomever they next contract with to
act within very very carefully constrained limits.  The management position
with which Verisign has been gifted is a privilege.  Verisign acts as though
it is a right.