[ga] [DOMAIN POLICY] NEWS ALERT: Net users irate over .info cybersquatters

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

All assembly members,

  The foloowing is a repost from the DOmain-Policy-Yahoo
ml.

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(http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6807825.html?tag=mn_hd)
By Reuters 
August 7, 2001, 4:50 p.m. PT 

WASHINGTON--An effort to keep cybersquatters out of a new Internet 
domain has drawn the ire of Web surfers who say it has allowed 
dishonest applicants to scoop up hundreds of desirable names 
like "business.info" before they are available to the public. 

Internet message boards and e-mail lists crackled with irate messages 
Tuesday from Web users who said that domain manager Afilias had 
awarded addresses such as "bank.info," "science.info" 
and "newyork.info" to applicants who have no legitimate claim to 
them. 

Afilias, a consortium of 18 Internet domain managers charged with 
managing the .info domain, one of seven scheduled to join the ranks 
of .com and .org during the next few months, said it was looking into 
the problem. It added it would decide by the end of the week whether 
to change its registration process. 

At issue is the month-long preregistration period for .info 
addresses, which allows trademark holders to reserve their domains 
before speculators get a hold of them. The Coca-Cola, for example, 
has reserved both "coke.info" and "cocacola.info." 

But two weeks after Afilias opened the gates, many more generic names 
have been snapped up as well. A London company called World 
Information Services has staked 
out "sports.info," "business.info," "money.info," "finance.info" 
and "wallstreet.info," citing in at least one instance a trademark 
that does not exist. The company did not return calls seeking 
comment. 

Internet watchers worry that by the time the general public is 
allowed to register on Sept. 12, few desirable names will be left. 

"There's almost nothing in terms of generic terms," said entrepreneur 
Russ Smith, who had hoped to land "science.info" before finding out 
it had been awarded to industrial giant DuPont, even though the 
company does not hold a trademark on the word. 

Afilias has erected several roadblocks to potential cybersquatters. 
Applicants may reserve only names that correspond with trademarks 
they hold and must provide the trademark number and country of 
registration on their application forms. 

Furthermore, domain-name holders may be challenged by other companies 
and forced to surrender their names if they cannot produce a valid 
trademark. 

But Internet observers say Afilias could have tried harder to screen 
out fraudulent applications and charge the system is full of 
loopholes. "Sex.info," for example, was awarded to an individual in 
Salt Lake City who trademarked a logo that contained the word. 

Furthermore, generic names could likely go unchallenged as the system 
provides little incentive to those who do not hold trademarks and 
would not win the rights to the name. 

"Nobody hardly ever is going to go through and dispute these unless 
they have an actual registered trademark on the term," Smith said. 

Afilias policy consultant Michael Palage said the company was not set 
up to check out trademark claims. 

"It's not our intention to be a policeman and verify the integrity of 
the underlying data," Palage said. 

Nevertheless, the company is looking through current applications for 
evidence of technical errors or fraud, he said. 

Glitch awards domain names
A technical glitch at a domain-name reseller was responsible for some 
of the controversy, Palage said. 

Reseller Corporate Domains mixed up a batch of trademark applications 
with regular applications, Palage said, a fact later confirmed by 
Corporate Domains Vice President John Kane. 

The company erroneously sent approximately 50 applications to 
Afilias, including DuPont's "science.info" application, that should 
have been reserved for the regular "land rush" in September, Kane 
said. 

"This is just a technical problem that's happened," Kane said. 

Palage said Afilias would determine by the end of the week whether 
the process would need to be altered or stopped completely, or 
whether it could continue as is. 

Afilias was selected by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names 
and Numbers (ICANN) last November to manage one of seven new domains, 
including .biz, .name, .pro, .aero, .museum and .coop. 

In recent weeks, ICANN and several companies involved in the roll-out 
of the .biz domain have been charged in a class-action lawsuit with 
running an illegal lottery.



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