[ga] The Expiration and Re-Distribution of Domain Names
Title: Help Starting point : It is unacceptable that ordinary internet users and
members of the public are disadvantaged when domain names expire and are
redistributed.
The underlying principle of ICANN is that domain names should be
"distributed fairly without advantage to any party".
However, when expired domain names become available, they are often snapped
up by registrars, or scripts designed to detect their availability in seconds.
This prevents the fair distribution to ordinary people.
Therefore a process is required. I propose:
60 days after expiry date, names are automatically placed in a central pool
of expired domain names.
Every 60 days, the names that have been in that pool for at least 30 days
will be published and offered in a Public Landrush.
This Landrush will be administered along the lines of the .info and .biz
landrushes, through competing registrars (thereby providing some much-needed
revenue to the failing domain name industry).
However, the rules will be tightly regulated:
1. There will be no advantage gained by submitting "exclusive" queues
because in the selection process, ALL applications for a given name will be
randomised, and ONE name chosen. This will NOT be done on a "round-robin"
process going from registrar to registrar.
2. All participating registrars will be required to use identical "Common
User Interfaces" accessible online so that EVERY member of the public can have
access to EVERY interface. Registrars who do not wish to open their sites to
everyone using this common user interface need not participate. They can just
carry on their normal business with their chosen clients but not take part in
the Public Landrushes for Re-Distributed Names. The Re-Distribution of Domain
Names must be organised for maximum benefit for consumers, NOT for the sake of
registrars. (There will, however, be benefit for participating
registrars.)
3. The registration price for a domain will be the same, whichever
registrar you apply through. However, once you obtain a domain using this
method, registrars may subsequently offer you additional services at their own
prices, in order to facilitate competition and variation of product.
4. There will be a small token price for each application (say $5) to
prevent frivolous applications and to secure credit card details for successful
applicants. However, there will be no card "authorisation" and you will only be
charged when you are successfully selected. In the event of a failed credit
card, the applicant will have 7 days to re-submit credit card details, after
which the name will be offered to the randomly-selected number 2, 3, 4 etc on
the list. If no applicant obtains a domain, it will return to the Pool and be
re-issued in the next Landrush. After a second issue in a Landrush, if it has
not been taken, it will simply be placed for sale live.
A Second model would bypass Registrars altogether and simply offer a
Landrush through a centralised provider. On successful selection, the applicant
would then select from a list of Registrars and purchase the name through them.
This would favour competition because people would tend to choose cheap
Registrars unless they wanted special services, in which case they could
exercise choice.
I suspect the Second model might involve greater difficulties with the
problem of an applicant using multiple identities and multiple e-mail addresses
- but, to be honest, that problem will always exist, and my analysis of the
.info and .biz whois databases suggests that in practice, a large variety of
applicants obtain names... much larger than the small exclusive groups who
presently "snatch" expired names on their release. In some cases, they are never
really released at all.
While I'm not saying that these models do not need discussion and
fine-tuning, I suggest to you that the interests of ordinary members of the
public - and the obligation for a fair and open distribution of names - are
better served this way than by the "inside" hijacking of expiring domain names
which takes place at present.
There will be those who argue that because my systems reject "round-robin"
they will disadvantage small registrars. My counter-argument is (a) my system
puts the needs of the public first (b) I think the public may very well NOT
choose NetSol just because they are big... indeed Landrush applications are
showing a growing discrimination against big registrars (c) if this is still
asserted as a problem, then part of the application fees could be used to
"subsidise" those who are supposed to lose out (though I would not like this
very much).
There will also be bleatings from the Intellectual Property industry of
course. But I would not involve any Sunrise or IP claims process at all in these
Landrushes. There are already due processes in place for the protection of
Intellectual Property, and as these are re-distributed names, companies would
already have had time to challenge the names previously, and would continue to
be able to do so in the future.
I invite comments from interested parties, and from ICANN, on this way of
re-distributing expired domain names.
Richard Henderson
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