Re: [nc-deletes] Impact

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

>
> "If a domain name is not explicitly renewed by the registrant, the
registrar
> must issue a delete request for that name no later than 45-days after the
> initial registration period agreed to by the registrant.

..or else what happens?   The registry automatically generates the delete
request?  Someone complains to Dan Halloran about it?

One of the dilemmas of the WHOIS task force is that they have been put into
the position of defending the 15 day period, regardless of the fact that the
15 day period on inaccurate whois data has always been a condition of the
registrar accreditation agreement.  The overarching problem of the registrar
accreditation agreement is that it prescribes a number of things that
registrars are supposed to do, but provides no finer-grained enforcement
mechanism other than the prospect of de-accreditation.  Hence if ICANN's
counsel, in response to sufficiently well-heeled complaints, sends a letter
to Verisign about a handful of names, then Verisign responds in 15 days.
Accordingly, the WHOIS task force has defined a set of escalating "fines"
that can be assessed for non-compliance.  Now, that may not be the best
answer to the question of "what makes these apparently 'self-enforcing'
contract mechanisms work, and nobody in their right mind expects registrars
to agree under any circumstances to anything that might result in fines (or a
withhold of their registry credits), but the problem of "what happens when
what is supposed to happen doesn't happen?" is a question that always needs
an answer when one is drafting contract terms.  And that is the exercise
here.

Failing to define action that will occur in the event of breach results in
contract terms that can be ignored, to the extent that the only approach to
the contract is an all-or-nothing proposition.  Expecting that merely writing
terms into a contract means that the terms will be followed is just wishful
thinking.  For that matter, one need not incorporate them into the contract
at all.

Would it be useful to define a registry action to be taken in response to a
failure of a registrar to timely submit a delete request?

> Or some similar to that. By trying to stay in line with the WHOIS TF work
we
> can minimize the impact and maximize acceptance of our recommendations.

Yes, it is their job to define what is "accurate" whois data.