[registrars] Credit Fraud Issue Update

["Michael D. Palage" <michael@palage.com>]

Hello All:

In connection with the reported credit card fraud issue reported to the list
earlier today, I would like to update the list on some developments.

FIRST UPDATE:

Below is the response from one of the FBI agents that we met with in Reston.
In light of the extraterritorial nature of this action she questions the
jurisdiction of the FBI in this matter. However, in my email response to her
I explained the potential nexus with the United States. I would like to
thank Miesha Vukasinovic for bring this to our attention, and I encourage
other registrars to disseminate information which can be of benefit to the
industry. I think we need to increase discussion about issues like this as
part of the expanded mission of the constituency.

FBI E-Mail Response:

Mike,
Nice to hear from you.  Hope all is well.  The last time you called, I was
out
of the office and you did not leave the phone number for the hotel.
Hopefully
the matter was resolved.  If it is an emergency, you can always page me at
1-800-406-3558.
Regarding the e-mail you sent, from looking at it, I do not believe that the
FBI
has any venue to investigate since it appears that the victim and possibly
subject are both overseas.  I believe that Total Registrations is based in
the
UK.  Is it not?  If they would like to report the crime, I would strongly
suggest contacting the New Scotland Yard.  Our Legat based in London works
with
Scotland Yard and can provide assistance if needed.  If there is some US
nexus,
please let me know.
Thanks,
Keep in touch,
Michelle

My Response to the FBI:

Dear Michelle
I agree that your jurisdiction is questionable. However, there are several
factors that I thought might bring it within your jurisdiction (1) the
Shared Registry System for .COM, .ORG & .NET is operated by Verisign and (2)
in connection with the registration process, the registrant used the DNS
servers of Great Domains which was recently acquired by Verisign.
I will encourage the registrar to contact New Scotland Yard. If possible
could you please forward me the list of FBI  legats that are located around
the world.
Thanks again for your help.

Mike

SECOND ISSUE:

There was a question raised to Joe Sims about the potential anti-trust
issues associated with the statements about "group boycotts". Listed below
is Joe Sims' response that I agree with. But this issue of potential
anti-trust issues is something that the constituency will have to closely
follow as we consider expanding the scope of our mission and becoming more
proactive.

Joe Sims Response:

While this is an area with some
ambiguity, the mere notification of an apparent fraud probably would not in
and of itself raise serious antitrust issues.  If someone could assert that
some collection of registrars had agreed not to deal with a person, it is
theoretically possible that could be asserted to be a group boycott, but
even then it would likely be actionable only if the group of registrars had
market power.  Individual decisions, on the other hand, would not generally
be actionable, even if they produce the same practical result.  Since free
legal advice is worth what you pay for it, I would counsel everyone not to
rely on this casual, off-hand statement of the general state of the law,
but I thought it might be interesting to some.