Re: Re[2]: [ga] Re: VeriSign Proposal a Done Deal??

["Genie Livingstone" <genie@magi.net>]

Hello Group,

I would like to offer some of our data for consideration:
We monitor and re-register expiring domains for consumers.
We have been offering this service since August 2000 - at that time expiring
domain market was a ' virgin ' one.

While expiring domain monitoring is just one aspect of our operations,
I can offer some insights, for whatever they are worth.

Here are some interesting data from our stats and data tracking :
Most dropped domains in 2001 were originally registered at Netsol Registrar
99.9% of dropped domains are NOT re-registered at NetSol Registrar.
On certain drops I have reviewed lists of hundreds of domains being
re-registered
and not one by NetSol Registrar.

This might be one interesting premise motivating Verisign to try to
recapture the monopoly.
If 1,000,000 of usable domains drop out of Netsol Registrar and they are
virtually all
re-registered by competing Registrars -  Verisign is probably looking to
recapture some of
these lost revenues, obviously the $6,000,000 Verisign already gets on these
domains
for running the Registry is not enough.

CONCERN 1 - EXPIRED DOMAINS HOARDING
- There is a significant number of domains that were not expired by
VerisignNetSol  dating back to 1999, 2000 and 2001.  There is no rhyme and
reason
to Verisign expiration policy - some domains are simply skipped over and
not expired while others follow relatively reliable drop schedule.
Consumers and other parties have been consistenly
protesting this practice of expired domain hoarding since 1999 !
REPORTS OF EXPIRED DOMAIN HOARDING BY NSI / Verisign reported by
consumers and competing registrars for HOARDING EXPIRED domain names - the
industry seems to agree that NSI is hoarding more valuable domains with
intention of selling/reselling/auctioning those domains. Most other
Registrars delete a domain within 40 days of domain expiration date in case
of non-payment/non-renewal - except Verisign -
they seem have a "special" need to hoard expiring domains for months or
years in some cases.  Our monitoring list contain expiry dates to 1999 and
2000  !
CASE LINKS :
http://nsihorrorstories.com/archive.shtml -
A large number of consumer, registration provider complaints against
Verisign/NSI on hoarding expired domains routed to ICANN since July 2000.
http://www.eyeondomain.com/NSIcase.pdf
Class Action Lawsuit against NSI for hoarding Expired Domain Names - more
info here: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2644260,00.html
dating October 2000 -
The issue has been brought in front of ICANN Chief Compliance Officer, US
Dept of Commerce
and discussed over and over in many internet discussion boards - It has been
2 years and
we do not seem to be able to even get standarized expiration time lines out
of Verisign Registrar.

CONCERN 2:
Reports of questionable anti-consumer and anti-competitive practices,
disregard for  ICANN rules
SUPPORTING LINKS:
http://www.epinions.com/cmsw-EmailChat-All-networksolutions_com/_redir_att__
~1
whopping 97% consumers do NOT recommend NetSol/Verisign service (As opposed
to Register.Com
who has 41% recommend rating)
http://www.icannwatch.org/article.php?sid=169
Ex-Verisign employee reports ICANN Agreement violations. predatory practices
against competitors, fraudulent behavior, unfair dealings with
consumers,....
http://www.opensrs.org/archives/discuss-list/0012/0137.html
DOMAIN RENEWAL INVOICES being sent to customers who transferred their
domains out of Verisign / NSI Registry months ago!    to issuance of this
invoice -
link to Netsol Rep answering this issue over a year ago - this dubious
practice still continues we speak... Unless this is practiced intentionally
to invoice a few extra hundred throusand dollars out of unsuspecting
accounting
departments who have no clue that the domain has been moved to another
registrar - I have hard time believing that a world class database company
would take 2 YEARS to design a connector between billing and registrar
record
database.
http://forum.icann.org/regxfer/
Verisign continues to DECLINE DOMAIN TRANSFERS to competing registrars
http://nsihorrorstories.com/cgi-shl/news/news.pl?action=allnews&start=36
http://forum.icann.org/cgi-bin/rpgmessage.cgi?regxfer;3C0684AA00000073
If a domain is renewed by a customer and transferred to a competing
registrar within 45 days of renewal, NSI/Verisign will obtain a refund of
$6.00 from itself but WILL NOT refund the consumer AND WILL further penalize
the consumer by NOT TRANSFERRING the RENEWAL year to the gaining Registrar.
We are a registration service provider and register domains with
Verisign/NSI as well as other ICANN approved Registrars - our customers
resonate with complaints about Verisign/NSI's poor practices.

The last thing we need is NSI/Verisign
controlling expired domain market!

All we have is the Registrar Accreditation Agreement that states:

<<quote>>5. Registrar shall register SLDs to SLD holders only for fixed
periods. At the conclusion of the registration period, failure by or on
behalf of the SLD holder to pay a renewal fee WITHIN THE TIME SPECIFIED IN A
SECOND NOTICE OR REMINDER shall, in the absence of extenuating
circumstances, result in cancellation of the registration. In the event that
ICANN adopts a policy concerning procedures for handling expiration of
registrations, Registrar shall abide by that policy. <<unquote>>

I cannot find anywhere anything that would give Verisign the right to begin
disposing of expiring domains from Verisign's Registry or Competing
Registrar's
without explicit ICANN approval.

Based on current Verisign double function - Registry and Registrar - there
is enough
of potential opportunities for preferential treatment of a single 'partner'
or a daughter company running
Registrar operations in status quo that would make me skeptical to place my
faith
into fairness of the system if Verisign gets monopoly yet on another aspect
of domain registration market.  Frankly,  I would prefer to see an
independent contractor
handling this industry, should it ever be centralized.

It has taken YEARS of providing evidence and urging ICANN regarding
NSI/Verisign
not releasing expiring domains on a predictable schedule. Are we to
understand
that now Verisign issues and approves it's own proposal for disposition of
expiring domains?


As Verisign/NSI bends ICANN rules and ICANN seems to
have little power in enforcing its rule it further encourages
other smaller Registrars to follow in Verisign's footsteps - further
promoting chaos in our
Wild Wild Web.  This is slowly but surely resulting in NSI/Verisign being
THE namespace Regulator (again).

Considering all reports at hand - Please let's not let the Wolf do the
shepherding!

To conclude on the constructive side, we wholeheartedly suggest that
Verisign focuses on fixing issues
at hand:

1. INSTALL PREDICTABLE 40 DAY DOMAIN EXPIRATION POLICY
2. DO NOT ERRONEOUSLY BILL CUSTOMERS WHO TRANSFERRED THEIR DOMAINS TO
COMPETING REGISTRARS
3. STOP DECLINING TRANSFERS TO COMPETING REGISTRARS IF THE WINNING REGISTRAR
OBTAINED OWNER APPROVAL
4. CLEARLY WARN YOUR CUSTOMER THAT IF THEY TRANSFER THEIR DOMAIN WITHIN 45
DAYS FROM IT'S RENEWAL TO A COMPETING REGISTRAR THAT YOU WILL TAKE THE
RENEWAL DOMAIN YEAR AWAY FROM THEM AND GIVE THE CONSUMER A REFUND


Once you have the above issues implemented and resolved to your customer's
satisfaction, let's talk about new proposals and inventions.

Respectfully,
Genie Livingstone










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