[council] Agenda Item 5 Transfers Task Force

[Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au>]

Hello All,

Here is a summary of the Transfers Task Force Terms of Reference and current
recommendation
(I have attempted to summarise the detailed process document).

Transfers Task Force Terms of Reference
=======================================

The purpose of the Task Force on Transfers is to:
--develop broad understanding across the NC of the issues underlying the
disputed area of transfers of domain names between registrars
--ensure understanding of the proposed approach as documented in the
Registrars' procedural document, which has been voted on by the Registrars
--identify any broad policy issues (separate from contract issues), which
are the responsibility of the DNSO -devise recommendations which have broad
cross constituency support to any identified problems arising from the
language of the existing agreements where policy needs to guide contractual
changes.
--undertake a "fast track" working effort, via a Task Force, to present a
proposal for NC consideration at Marina del Ray NC meeting and to recommend
next steps, if any.


Transfers Task Force Recommendation
===================================

Current situation: 

The gaining registrar can initiate a transfer after receiving a request from
a registrant.  There is no minimum standard has to how the gaining registrar
should confirm a transfer request, and the process has been open to abuse
(e.g robust telemarketing).

The losing registrar can deny a transfer for several reasons, including if
the losing registrar doubts the identity of the person that has approved the
transfer.  There is no standard that defines in detail how the registrar
determines if the registrant has given approval.  This process has also been
open to abuse by effectively denying nearly all transfers.

Recommendation:

The transfers task force has proposed a detailed process for improving both
the steps above.

The gaining registrars must confirm a transfer request (the original request
may contain the auth-code as part of an EPP registry implementation) by
attempting to contact either the administrative contact of the domain name
in the WHOIS, or the registrant directly.
The admin contact or registrant must then explicitly consent to the
transfer.  This consent is described by a "Form of Authorisation" that
provides the name of the gaining registrar and a consise statement
describing the impact of the registrant's decision.  The gaining registrar
must keep records of the consent.

A losing registrar may contact the admin contact or registrant to confirm
the intent to transfer.  If the contact denies the transfer, then the losing
registrar will deny the transfer on the registrant's behalf (this is
sometimes called NACK).  If there is no reply, the losing registrar will
rely on the processes of the gaining registrar (this is sometimes called
default ACK).