[registrars] UPDATE

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

Dear Registrars:

The newly elected officers held a meeting yesterday to discuss a plan of
action for the next couple of weeks:

(1) It was universally agreed, that the first issue to be addressed
immediately is the Constituency letter to ICANN on the XFER issue. Based on
lessons from the past, the Constituency seeks to avoid two pitfalls that
have de-railed previous Constituency efforts: arguments that the statements
from the Constituency were mere allegations of a select few registrars
against dominate competitors in the market place. To counter this argument,
the newly elected secretariat has been directed to contact each Registrar
and seek their specific support for the contents of the letter. Second, the
Registrar Constituency will include extensive evidence of consumer
confusion/frustration in its position paper that it may be submitting to the
Names Council shortly. It is critical that the Names Council see first hand
accounts of how this autoNAC policy is causing problems on behalf of
consumers and registrars.

In an effort to further collect actual documented proof of
confusion/frustration in the market place, it has been proposed that a
Standard Registrar Constituency Complaint Form be prepared. It is proposed
that this Standard Registrar Constituency XFER Complaint Form, if adopted,
be placed on the Registrar Constituency homepage and participating
Registrars web sites. This form will be used similar to the complaint form
on the Internic.net web site to properly document the problem currently
confronting the constituency. These forms can then be faxed to an eFax
account that the Constituency is currently creating for general
administrative purposes.

The draft complaint form should be available shortly on the Registrar
mailing list.

Attached to this email is the fourth and final revision of the Registrar
Constituency letter. I have tried to incorporate recommendations from all
parties on both side of the issue. In response to those registrars that
advocated a tougher stance in this letter, I believe that this letter was an
attempt to demonstrate the Registrar Constituency's continued commitment to
resolve this problem internally. As I have previously mentioned, the
Registrar Position Paper that is currently being drafted will be much more
proactive by including actual evidence of consumer confusion/frustration. I
have also sought to clarify comments made by Dan Halloran in Stockholm.

(2) I have had some inquiries from registrars concerning the .NAME TLD
proposal. Today the ICANN Board is meeting to discuss this proposal. The
registrars held a special meeting in Stockholm to discuss this issue. ICANN
has posted a letter from Amadeu detailing many of the concerns raised by the
registrars in attendance in Stockholm. This letter can be viewed at:
http://www.icann.org/minutes/secretarys-notice-19jul01.htm. Rita Rodin's
response on behalf of the registry operator can be found at:
http://www.icann.org/correspondence/rodin-letter-to-touton-26jul01.htm. I
have not been able to devote a significant amount of bandwidth to this issue
personally. However, it "appears" that the Registry Operator has agreed to
provide all e-mail forwarding services through ICANN accredited registrars,
as opposed to directly to consumers. For those registrars that have raised
this issue both currently and in the past, could you please comment to the
constituency on the proposed modifications that have been made.

(3) In preparation for the upcoming ICANN meeting in September, we are
seeking to prepare an agenda over the next couple of weeks so that action
can be taken in September instead of just discussed. Therefore, please
provide suggestions to either the list or to Tim Denton or myself directly
on issues that need to be addressed. Two topics that I have received several
comments on are with regard to registrar warehousing of domain names and
international domain names.

(4) Rick Wesson has been tasked with moving forward with creating a VoteBot
solution for the constituency. This Votebot will be used for future
consensus building efforts.

(5) Regarding the .BIZ class action lawsuit, the newly elected officers that
participated in the teleconference yesterday agreed to closely monitor the
situation but expend no resources on the matter in light of more pressing
issues confronting the constituency.

Best regards,

Michael D. Palage

Registrars-xfer-2.5.doc