Re: [ga] ICANN benefits

["William X. Walsh" <william@userfriendly.com>]

Hello Dave,

Friday, April 06, 2001, 5:16:37 PM, Dave Crocker wrote:

> At 01:50 PM 4/6/2001, Kristy McKee wrote:
>>The Internet worked better when there was a monopoly.  The rules were 
>>simple:  first come first serve.  Problems were easily resolved over 
>>trademark and copyright issues within the courts, etc.  I think ICANN is 
>>several steps backwards.


> Not only are you wrong, but you are completely wrong.  And unfortunately 
> this is the sort of thread that gets in the way of looking at substantial 
> criticism, since we must debate basic matters of fact rather than 
> significant opportunities for improvement.

> NSI had a long and painful history of very poor operations and very 
> capricious decision-making.  First come, first serve was the rule, except 
> when NSI decided it wasn't.  Some examples are being cited in this thread, 
> but it was a massive and well-documented problem.  Sorry you seem unaware 
> of it.

ICANN can't take credit for any improvements here.  DoC can, but
ICANN really can't.

> Trademark conflicts were ambiguous and expensive.  In fact, NSI gave 
> trademark holders much more power than they have in law.  Now we have the 
> UDRP and things are vastly more straight-forward and vastly cheaper.

Yes, things are much more straightforward.  Trademark owners have an
almost absolute right, many times the additional rights than the NSI
DDP gave them, they can actually hijack names under the UDRP that they
would never have gotten in a court room.   And it is vastly cheaper
for them to attempt it.

> A registration cost US$35/year.  Administrative interactions were
> impressively painful and frustrating.  Now you can get a domain for about 
> US$12, with many sources of easy administrative interaction.

> So, things are cheaper, easier, more consistent and more reliable.

But nothing that ICANN can take credit for, and still be honest.


-- 
Best regards,
 William                            mailto:william@userfriendly.com


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