Re: [registrars] Interesting quote from Melbourne IT in todays papers in Australia.

[Eric Schaetzlein <eric@schlund.de>]

Hi Larry,

I don't think the thick registry is the problem. It makes perfectly
sense to store that information in a central place, that's what a registry
is good for.

On the other hand it should be defined by contract who "owns" the customer,
and that's clearly the registrar.

I heard that .pro will also introduce a directory lookup service
("give me all lawyers in Germany")

-Eric

On 2001/05/09, Larry Erlich wrote:
> Rob Hall wrote:
> > 
> > In todays "The Australian", Melbourne IT chief executive officer
> > Adrian Kloeden said,
> > 
> > NeuLevel won the rights to be the registry for the .biz web suffix
> > last year.
> > 
> > The NeuLevel deal facilitates Melbourne IT's move into the lucrative
> > web registry space. It also enables Melbourne IT to act as a data
> > aggregator.
> > 
> > "With biz.com, we will be controlling all of the data that comes to
> > us," he said. "People registering with .biz do so because they want to
> > be found. It's basically the equivalent of the Yellow Pages."
> 
> This is what you get with a thick registry.
>  
> We are not registrars, just order takers. 
> The gatekeeper is Neulevel. If the quote in the article is correct, 
> Neulevel basically believes they own the customer.  
> 
> I am sure that as part of the registry-registrar agreement, 
> we will have to indemnify  Neulevel against any customer lawsuits, 
> and since they will be retaining the data, they will most certainly 
> get sued at some point. 
> 
> The registrar ("order taker") will have to indemnify them
> for all costs in defending any lawsuits (in addition to the 
> registrar's own costs in defending the same suit.) 
> With a thin registry (as with NSI) we still have to indemnify, 
> but there is less of a chance of a lawsuit since they don't retain
> any data or have any relationship with the
> customer registering the name. 
> 
> But I'm not an attorney. Michael(s), your opinion?
> 
> Larry Erlich
> 
> http://www.DomainRegistry.com
> 
> > 
> > I find it interesting that Melbourne IT is claiming control of all the
> > data submitted to the .biz registry.  This causes me concern, and I
> > hope that the Neulevel CEO clears up this with Michael ASAP.
> > 
> > Rob.
> > 
> > Here is the entire article:
> > 
> > Melb IT sacrifices for future of the .biz
> > Penny Brown
> > 09 May 2001
> > 
> > MELBOURNE IT will sacrifice earnings in 2001-02 for a stake of up to
> > 30 per cent in its joint venture NeuLevel, operator of the new web
> > suffix .biz.
> > 
> > Melbourne IT yesterday agreed to pay $6 million cash for a 10 per cent
> > stake in NeuLevel after finalising negotiations with US telco NeuStar,
> > its joint venture partner.
> > 
> > It has an option to increase its interest to 30 per cent, for an
> > estimated $12 million plus a cost of capital charge, by September
> > 2001.
> > 
> > "It is likely that we will have a short-term EBIT loss," Melbourne IT
> > chief executive officer Adrian Kloeden said.
> > 
> > "There will be front-end costs, such as software, hardware and
> > marketing costs, associated with establishing the biz.com platform."
> > Mr Kloeden said the investment would hurt the company's EBIT in the
> > first two years but would make money in the long term.
> > 
> > NeuLevel won the rights to be the registry for the .biz web suffix
> > last year.
> > 
> > The NeuLevel deal facilitates Melbourne IT's move into the lucrative
> > web registry space. It also enables Melbourne IT to act as a data
> > aggregator.
> > 
> > Eventually, Melbourne IT would offer services similar to City Search's
> > business directory, Mr Kloeden said.
> > 
> > "With biz.com, we will be controlling all of the data that comes to
> > us," he said. "People registering with .biz do so because they want to
> > be found. It's basically the equivalent of the Yellow Pages."
> > 
> > Melbourne IT shares fell 1c to 88c.
> > 
> > --
> > Rob Hall                                voice  (613) 768-5100
> > President                                  fax  (613) 820-0777
> > Momentous.ca Corp.
> > rob@momentous.ca                      www.momentous.ca
> > 
> > iti,s
> 
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Larry Erlich - DomainRegistry.com, Inc.
> 215-244-6700 - FAX:215-244-6605 - Reply: erlich@DomainRegistry.com
> -----------------------------------------------------------------


Best regards,

Eric


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Eric Schaetzlein		Schlund + Partner AG	Tel:  +49 721 91374 50
Leiter Domain Services		Erbprinzenstr. 4-12	Fax:  +49 721 91374 20
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