[NA-Discuss] Request to have a Fast Track PDP initiated

[Alan Greenberg]

Danny,

I have taken the liberty of forwarding your message to the at 
<at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org> list, as I think that the issue 
has far wider impact than just North America.

I will respond to it there.

For those not on that list, self-subscription and the archives are 
available at https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large.

Alan

At 29/11/2010 10:09 PM, Danny Younger wrote:

>Dear all,
>
>Events that have transpired in the last few days attendant to the 
>launch of .?? have made it clear to me that although we can't deal 
>with the troubling issues that may arise with TLD launches in the 
>ccTLD world, we do have the ability to act to protect the public 
>interest within the gTLD sphere by way of a policy that would govern 
>speculation in domain names by registrars.
>
>By way of background, in the recent .?? ccTLD launch an ICANN 
>accredited registrar, RU-Center, decided to register domain names in 
>its own name on a priority basis and only then did it register other 
>domain names.  Approximately 24,500 premium domains registered to 
>RU-Center were then put up for auction. The Russian Federal 
>Antimonopoly Service (FAS) then stepped in, shut down the auctions 
>and accused a number of registrars of collusion.
>
>What can we learn from this?  Simply put... greed in the new TLD 
>launch process can lead to abuse of the public trust, and measures 
>need to be in place to ensure that the public is protected from the 
>ICANN-accredited registrar community.
>
>In our gTLD world, there is at the moment no ICANN policy whatsoever 
>governing speculation in, or warehousing of, domains by 
>registrars.  Registrars are able to game the system to their own 
>ends however they see fit; this has to change.
>
>The current RAA (section 3.7.9) states:  "Registrar shall abide by 
>any ICANN adopted specifications or policies prohibiting or 
>restricting warehousing of or speculation in domain names by registrars".
>
>As there is no such policy or specification, I suggest that we 
>initiate a PDP to have such a policy created, namely a policy that would state:
>
>"No registrar, registrar affiliate, or reseller of registrar 
>services shall engage in warehousing of or speculation in domain names."
>
>While I understand that the GNSO soon will broadly be looking at 
>proposed amendments for the RAA, we all know that the GNSO process 
>(if spread over the entirety of the RAA proposed amendments) can 
>take years to arrive at a recommendation... yet with the imminent 
>roll-out of hundreds of new gTLDs, we just don't have the luxury of 
>waiting that long.
>
>In my view, what is called for is a Fast Track PDP approach that 
>would focus on a single policy recommendation that could be put in 
>place before any new gTLD is launched.
>
>I would ask the NARALO to bring this matter to the immediate 
>attention of the ALAC.
>
>Thanks for your consideration of this issue.
>
>Danny Younger