[council] Referral to DNSO: Deletes and VeriSign WLS Application

[Louis Touton <touton@icann.org>]

To the Names Council:

For the past several months, various interrelated issues have emerged
concerning the deletion process for domain names in the gTLDs.  Based on
the discussion at the Names Council's 14 February meeting, the DNSO
Transfers Task Force organized a very informative presentation at 
Accra, during which various deletes and tranfers topics (redemption 
grace period, VeriSign WLS proposal, transfer mechanisms, etc.) were
discussed.  At the Names Council meeting in Accra, Marilyn Cade, the
chair of the task force, and Alexander Svensson, Alternate GA Chair,
reported on this presentiation.

On 21 March 2002, VeriSign Global Registry Services requested that ICANN
amend the .com and .net registry agreements to allow it to provide a 
wait-listing service (WLS), for a fee and on a sole-source basis, as
part of its operation of those registries.  The specific request is
posted at
<http://www.icann.org/nsi/vgrs-wls-proposal-20mar02.pdf>.

ICANN posted a General Counsel's analysis of the VeriSign WLS request
<http://www.icann.org/minutes/report-vgrs-wls-17apr02.htm>, which
recommended that the ICANN Board invite DNSO and public comment on 
policy concerns raised by the request.  VeriSign submitted a response 
to that analysis, which is posted at
<http://www.icann.org/minutes/response-vgrs-wls-21apr02.htm>.

At its meeting on 22 April 2002, the ICANN Board adopted a resolution
inviting "community comment on the [VeriSign WLS] request, and
particularly on policy concerns raised by the request that would harm
the legitimate interests of others."  In addition, the Board concluded
that, to the extent feasible, the evaluation regarding the VeriSign WLS
should be made in the context of an analysis of solutions to the broader
set of problems that have arisen in the deletes area.

In this regard, the Board resolution made the following referral to the
DNSO: 

   Resolved [02.53] that the Board requests the Names Council to 
   coordinate within the DNSO a comprehensive review of issues 
   concerning the deletion of domain names and possible solutions for 
   those issues and to submit to the Board, no later than 10 June 2002, 
   a status report on that review, with the status report to include 
   any recommendations (with supporting materials) concerning VeriSign's 
   request to modify the .com and .net agreements to allow it to provide 
   a wait-listing service, for a fee, as part of its operation of the 
   .com and .net registries . . . .

The complete set of resolutions on the VeriSign WLS Request is posted at
<http://www.icann.org/minutes/prelim-report-22apr02.htm#VeriSignWLSProposal>. 
Please feel free to direct any questions you have regarding the above
referral to me.

In its resolutions, the Board also called on the ICANN staff to
establish a mechanism to receive comments submitted by the public over
the Internet, which we expect to set up in the next several days.

Louis Touton
ICANN Secretary