Re: [ga] WLS

["John Berryhill Ph.D. J.D." <john@johnberryhill.com>]

>But I get the impression that at least some people believe that
>there is more to the competitive concern than these point?
>If that is right, could someone lay it out for me simply and
>clearly, so that even I can understand it?  Thanks.

It is fairly simple and clear, and entirely missed in your recapitulation of
the competition concerns.  The "registrar harm" and "consumer harm" points
are flagged below with asterisks, so that even you can find them.

1.  Presently, there are several different services which use different
business models to compete for the opportunity to register domain names which
come off registration.  For example, there is SnapNames.com, Namewinner.com,
and several others.  Some of these services are fixed price services, some of
them are auctions with payment due on contingency, some for a "bounty", and
so forth.  During the development of these services, which involve various
repetitive polling mechanisms, there was concern that these services were
overloading registry resources during name drop periods.   That problem has
since been solved.

2.  WLS as proposed, will be the only way to obtain an expiring domain name,
since it will operate at the registry level.  Hence, this registry-level
service will effectively eliminate the present range of competing
registrar-level services for registration of expiring names.  Not compete -
eliminate - as any other method will be entirely ineffective.  **This will
eliminate a present revenue stream for some registrars.**  It is not a matter
of WLS providing a "competitive advantage" over the existing mix of services,
as you seem to perceive it.  The WLS as proposed will be the only game in
town, and will eliminate the existing mix of services, because it will
operate with certainty at the registry level to provide registration of an
expiring domain name to the single person who managed to grab the WLS slot
first.  There will be no competition to have an "advantage" over, and if a
WLS-squatter has the slot, you are out of luck.

3.  From the consumer perspective, the WLS as proposed will provide one, and
only one, person with certainty that they will become the registrant of an
expiring domain name.  Under the current situation, a consumer may obtain at
least an uncertain chance of obtaining the name through one of the present
competing services.  Presently, a consumer who finds that a SnapNames
"snapback" is taken on the domain name they want, can go elsewhere and have a
chance to register the name.  Under WLS, a consumer who finds that someone
else has already obtained the WLS slot for the name they want will have no
choice, because **there will be no alternative available.**

4.  To recap, the WLS will (a) eliminate a present registrar revenue stream
and a present competitive market, and (b) reduce consumer choice.  These
effects are entirely independent of whether Verisign will make money.
Verisign is entitled to make all of the money they lawfully can, and nobody
should have a problem with that.  Nobody has been saying that WLS is
anti-competitive for the mere fact that Verisign will make money from it.
The competition concern is that the proposal under consideration here is for
a monopoly service which will have incidental effects (a) and (b) noted
above.

Whether the WLS as proposed is implemented or not, released domain names will
continue to be registered by the quick and the clever, just as they are now.
The race will only be shifted to obtaining WLS slots rather than obtaining
the domain names themselves.  The notion is simply absurd that people who are
generally unfamiliar with domain name policies and procedures will have a
level playing field with those who are expert and studious followers of this
arcane nonsense.  But, the WLS party line plays well with those abused of a
habit of wishful thinking and unsupported theories of human behavior.

On further reflection, we may well simply see a bloom of competitive WLS
"gaming" services...





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