[ga] Re: Open Letter to Mr Jeff Neuman from The Internet Challenge

["Richard Henderson" <richardhenderson@ntlworld.com>]

Dear Jeff and Vint,

I received a typical e-mail this morning at the Internet Challenge, which
illustrates the way many ordinary consumers have suffered because of
unfettered registrar abuse of their privilege, and I have copied beneath,
with my reply:

"I applaud your actions in making ICANN, Neulevel and
the public aware of the unfair actions of
several .biz accredited registrars who shut out the
public and instead hoarded in-demand .biz names for
themselves and their friends by improperly
manipulating the Group 2B round robin process.

I am in somewhat of a unique position in that I spent
an absolute ton of time trying to pre-register the
names I wanted with each and every one of Neulevel's
accredited registrars.  Every night, I spent several
hours visiting each site to determine whether each
particular registrar had begun accepting
pre-registrations (some began accepting
pre-registrations early on, while others didn't accept
them until later).  I would then visit those same
sites again the next day, the day after that, etc.
until I was able to successfully pre-register with
each site.

Many of the registrars simply never accepted any
pre-registrations.  This didn't upset me too much as I
assumed that they just couldn't get their act together
in time.  I still thought that I would have a fair
shot through the other registrars that had opened the
pre-registration process to the public.

I was very shocked to recently find out that some of
those same registrars that I couldn't pre-register
with arranged private deals to benefit themselves,
their friends, or wealthy individuals.  In particular,
I remember not being able to pre-register with Domain
Registration Services, Inc. d/b/a dotEarth, Signature
Domains, TLDs Inc., and Phillipine Registry.com, Inc.
I tried numerous times to do so, and even have notes
reflecting my attempts, but those registrars never
accepted pre-registrations whatosever through their
websites.

I have strongly urged Neulevel to cancel all such
registrars' improperly-obtained .biz registrations
and to host another round robin process to distribute
those .biz names to those who registered with the
publicly-available Group 2B registrars the first time
around.  I have indicated my willingness to submit an
affidavit, appear at hearings, or help in any way to
ensure that fairness triumphs over self-dealing in
this situation.

Thanks again for your efforts."

MY RESPONSE:

"Thanks for your message, Jim.

I know exactly how you feel, because I undertook the same approach with the
.info Landrush. Night after night I checked each registrar I had not yet
managed to pre-register with. I spent months of spare time devoting myself
to the process which ICANN themselves had set up. I accepted that I MIGHT
not get the names I wanted, because someone else might get the name, but at
least I believed I had a FAIR chance like everyone else. Then the .info
Sunrise sham took place and almost all the names I'd spent so much time and
money applying for were "stolen" by other registrants AND registrars
submitting fake details. Like many other people I appealed for fair play and
intervention by Afilias and ICANN. Professor Robert Connor and I both came
up with the same (obvious) solution - the Domebase solution - but it was
ignored. It has been estimated that $3million of pre-registrants' money was
lost. I was contacted by one individual who alone had lost $55,000. My own
loss I estimate to have been around $1000.

In many ways, the .biz 2B scam is even worse, because the registrar
particpation in "exclusive" lists for themselves or a single friend or
client has been even more clearcut and manipulated. ICANN had a mandate to
ensure that the DNS was administered, and names distributed, with evenness
and fairness, and without any special privilege or advantage to anyone.
Neulevel have an Agreement with ICANN which gives them the right to CANCEL
any applications or registrations if they violate the rules or the integrity
of the process.

I agree with you absolutely that many of these names need to be investigated
and if needs be - deleted and returned to "the rest of the world" who have a
right to them. I am also very concerned that the same registrar exploitation
of privilege will happen again in a few weeks' time whenthe .info Landrush 2
begins. I have asked ICANN to take action on this but as far as I know they
have made no statement, and it seems as if they are prepared to accommodate
this clear abuse of their mandate. The consumer is being treated unfairly,
locked out from many parts of the process, and special privilege is being
given to a very few.

So thank you for writing and I hope you do indeed get some kind of just
result from a man of Jeff Neuman's standing. Otherwise, like you, I will be
pressing to make submissions to the Congressional hearing which has been
proposed for later this spring. Both the "rogue" registrars and ICANN need
to be called to account. Because that is one of the big problems : lack of
openness and accountability. The message has been sent out to registrars:
"You can do whatever you like." Although there is a good body of decent and
hard-working registrars, they too are being defrauded by companies that in
some cases are purely dealing for themselves.

With kind regards

Richard Henderson




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