Re: [nc-transfer] Thoughts on the conference call - Part V"Consultation with the Community"

["Milton Mueller" <Mueller@syr.edu>]

>>> "Ross Wm. Rader" <ross@tucows.com> 11/07/01 12:30PM >>>
On the issue of "Consultation with the Community"...

This is a perfect example of what I was referring to 
in my previous post. Both Verisign and its registrar
critics are claiming to speak in the name of consumers.
But in reality the DNSO process disenfranchises
most consumers. Kudos to Ross for explicitly 
recognizing this.

I could be even tougher and ask why the 
gTLD and Registrar constituency's Names Council 
representatives have never shown any interest 
in or support for creating an individual domain 
name holders constituency. But I won't.

Instead, I will suggest a better alternative. 
Let us agree to submit whatever plan we come up
with to an independent regulatory agency with
economic expertise formally charged with protecting 
the public interest, such as the US FCC or Federal
Trade Commission, Canada's equivalent, UK Oftel,
and so on. Their opinions would be "advisory"
only, but the regulatory issues we are facing have
been faced by them hundreds of times before,
so they might have something to offer.

That to me sounds a lot better than 
a) listening to Verisign and the other
registrars posturing, and 
b) trying to extract gamed and manipulated
data out of either camp.