[NA-Discuss] fucked.nyc

Mon Feb 20 23:10:53 UTC 2017

I have just been contacted by the former registrant of fucked.nyc.

He registered it via namecheap.com on March 3 2015 and renewed it earlier
this week.

On Feb 18 2017 he received a msg from Neustar informing him that it had
been found non-compliant with the "Seven Word Policy" and deleted. Neustar
advised him to contact his registrar for any refunds they might care to
make.

He contacted NameCheap who essentially said "Forgettaboutit'", despite him
pointing out that at no time had he been notified about, or agreed to be
bound by, any such policy.

Here is NameCheap's response:

*Recently, you contacted our Live Chat support regarding deletion
offucked.nyc <http://fucked.nyc/>. Feel free to use chat ID XQR-359-35382
for reference.We wanted to let you know, that we have forwarded a
suggestion about special notices for .NYC domains to the corresponding
team.We are really sorry that you faced such a situation and our replies
were not so helpful. Different Registry companies can have different
policies in regards of registration their domains and they usually reserve
a right to change their requirements or delete domains which do not meet
them.This does not happen often, still it is not possible to keep customers
informed about all the Registry policies or their changes on a contant
manner, to our regret.The amount you paid for the domain purchase was used
to register/renew the domain at the .NYC Registry. However, the Registry
still can delete domains without any refund if they do not meet their
requirements. We are working on improving our performance and hopefully
special messages on the site can help to avoid such situations in future.If
you have questions or require assistance, feel free to contact us at any
time.*

The registrant did some further research and surmised that Neustar's
vigilance could well be due to my Feb 6 letter
<http://isoc-ny.org/misc/2017-02-06_isoc-ny_dotnyc.pdf> pointing out they
were asleep at the wheel. It appeared to him the relevant page
<http://www.ownit.nyc/restricted-reserved> had been hurriedly updated.
Since, apparently he has other domains that might also be considered
variants on the 7 words, he got back on to Neustar for some clarification,
demanded to see a list. 'Guy' at Neustar support informed him that nothing
of the like existed - that it was decided on case by case basis - and to
add insult to injury sany deleted restricted names might, as policies
change, be released and sold to the highest bidder without any recourse for
the original registrant.

Thus he writes

*I have concluded that all of my .nyc domain names (more than 20) were
registered without binding terms or a policy of any kind on behalf of
Namecheap or Neustar / ownit.nyc <http://ownit.nyc/>, and I suspect that
this is a case for a large percentage of sold .nyc domains. Yet my domain
name was seized for a breach of policy, a policy I was never introduced to
nor agreed to. If any of my other names are added to the list, they can
seize it at any time, despite the fact that I've owned them for 2 years
now.*

*The greatest ethical concern I have is that an entity operating in this
way reserves the right to put a domain name on the reserved/restricted list
at any point in time, even if it was already sold and owned for 2 years. I
was informed by "Guy" at Neustar support that there is a possibility
reserved/restricted names will be released in the future, however they are
released back to the public (they go back up for sale), not to the original
owner. I have many .nyc domain names that appear as variations according to
their list.*

*Where is the oversight? Who is to prevent Neustar from seizing a domain
name for a period of time, then conveniently releasing it later only to buy
it themselves using an alias or through a third party?*

<snip>

*It just doesn't seem right. If Neustar was unable to properly inform name
holders on policy creations, changes, and updates in the past 5 years on
city tax dollars, I don't think they should operate for another second. It
shouldn't take a committee to generate a "no", I think their shady track
record in the past 5 years speaks for itself. And this being New York City,
we deserve better.*

I've responded to him, noting that 7 word policy is in the City's .nyc
contract (appears to have been published April 1 2015, and the .nyc
Acceptable Use Policy (which doesn't mention that policy but says they can
delete at will) has been public since July 2014. Caveat emptor. I noted
that Neustar is obligated to file copies of Registrar Registry Agreements
with the City, and he could FOIL it to see if NameCheap had met their
obligations. I also opined that, in the unlikely event  Neustar were to
resell a previously deleted name, they would be asking for trouble,

However I think he rightfully raises the wider issue of the right of
registrants to be properly informed of restrictive gTLD policies before
they put their money on the line. Is there something like that in existing
policy?

And also, to possibly the wider amusement of schoolboys etc, maybe ICANN or
somebody should perhaps maintain a definitive reference of unacceptable
variants of the 7 words.

joly

-- 
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Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
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