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Reconsideration
Request 01-4
Recommendation of the Committee
Date: 11 January 2002
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Recommendation
In reconsideration
request 01-4, Verio, Inc. ("Verio"), requests that "ICANN
reconsider the new policy set forth in the recently posted Registrar
Accreditation Agreement limiting the marketing uses of Whois data acquired
through bulk access." The substantive issue Verio raises concerns
the contractual language in ICANN's accreditation agreements with registrars
concerning use by third parties of bulk Whois data for mass commercial
solicitations by telephone and facsimile. The bulk Whois data includes
personal data relating to registrants, technical contacts, and administrative
contacts for registrations sponsored by the registrars. For the reasons
described below, the reconsideration committee recommends that the ICANN
Board call the issue to the attention of the DNSO for its consideration
of possible policy adjustments in this area, but that until development
and adoption of policy adjustments through that process, the language
of the existing accreditation agreements remain unchanged.
Factual
Background to the Request
The factual background to
Verio's request is complex, but can be summarized as follows:
1.
The November 1999 Registrar Accreditation Agreement. In November
1999, ICANN adopted a standard form of agreement for use in accrediting
registrars in the .com, .net, and .org top-level domains (TLDs). That
agreement required registrars to provide bulk Whois data to third
parties on a weekly basis, for a cost of US$ 10,000 annually,
subject to restrictions on use of the data, including that "the
third party [shall agree with the registrar] agree not to use the
data to allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam)."
(Section II.F.6.c
of November 1999 Registrar Accreditation Agreement.)
2.
The Register.com v. Verio Controversy. This form of registrar
accreditation agreement was used until May 2001. During that time,
controversy arose
between Verio and an accredited registrar, Register.com, regarding
the meaning of Section II.F.6.c above, and specifically whether the
prohibition on unsolicited advertising extended only to e-mail or
included telephone solicitations as well. That controversy was one
of several litigated in a lawsuit filed by Register.com against Verio
in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New
York (No. 00-Civ-5747 (BSJ)) over alleged misuse by Verio of Register.com's
Whois data. This lawsuit ultimately led to judgment in favor of Register.com,
which is currently on appeal.
3.
Reformulation of the Registry Agreements in Early 2000. In November
2000, ICANN
selected seven new TLDs for introduction into the Internet DNS,
subject to entry of appropriate agreements between ICANN and the registry
operator or sponsor. In addition, beginning in early 2001, the ICANN
community engaged in an intensive discussion of proposed revisions
to the registry agreements under which VeriSign (which had purchased
NSI) operated the .com, .net, and .org TLDs. These community discussions
concerned many issues, including the terms under which third parties
should use Whois data for unsolicited commercial solicitations. An
understanding of the detailed procedural history of these discussions
is important to resolution of the procedural objections raised in
Verio's request for reconsideration:
a.
The Proposed New TLD Registry Agreements. On 26 February 2001
, after consulting with the four companies selected to operate the
new unsponsored TLDs (.biz, .info, .name, and .pro), ICANN posted
on its website for public comment a proposed
form of the registry agreement to be entered between ICANN and
the operators. That agreement required the operators, which proposed
to operate "thick" registries containing registrant data,
to provide public access to Whois data, subject to the restriction
that it not be used to "allow, enable, or otherwise support
the transmission by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass unsolicited,
commercial advertising or solicitations to entities other than the
data recipient's own existing customers . . . ." (See Subsection
3.10.3 of 26 February 2001 Proposed Unsponsored TLD Agreement.)
Thus, this agreement made clear that the Whois data could not be
used for telephone or facsimile mass commercial solicitations.
Also on 26 February 2001,
ICANN posted a proposed
Appendix N to the registry agreements, which provided for public
bulk access to zone files with the same restrictions on commercial
use as provided for the use of Whois data. The combined practical
effect of these provisions was to prevent third parties from accessing
data about individuals stored for non-business purposes and using
it to solicit business in mass via facsimile or telephone, in addition
to the already prohibited solicitation via e-mail.
b.
The Proposed Revisions to the .com/.net/.org Registry Agreements.
On 1 March 2001, proposed revisions to the registry agreements for
the .com, .net, and .org TLDs were posted
on ICANN's web site. One of the goals of these proposed revisions
was to put .com, .net, and .org on a closely similar footing to
the new TLDs, and the proposed .com, .net, and .org agreements included
the same language concerning use of Whois data as quoted in item
a above. They also referenced Appendix N concerning use of data
obtained by bulk-zone-file access.
c.
Community Discussion of the Agreements. Both the 26 February
2001 proposed unsponsored TLD agreement and the 1 March 2001 proposed
revisions to the VeriSign agreements were the subjects of extensive
discussion within the ICANN community. Web-based
forums were established for public comments, additional comments
were received by e-mail and postal mail, and both topics were included
in the in-person Public Comment
Forum held at ICANN's meeting in Melbourne, Australia on 12
March 2001.
d.
ICANN Board Action at Melbourne. At the Melbourne meeting, the
ICANN Board adopted resolutions
01.25 and 01.26, under which the ICANN President and General
Counsel were authorized to complete the unsponsored New TLD agreements
along the lines proposed and, subject to a seven-day "last
call" procedure, to enter into those agreements. The Board
also adopted resolutions
01.22 and 01.23 soliciting comment on the proposed revisions
to the VeriSign agreements and the public through 31 March 2001.
e.
Subsequent Community Comment and Board Action. During the comment
period, various groups (including the DNSO Names Council) provided
comments on the proposed revisions to the VeriSign agreements. Although
these comments mostly concerned aspects of the agreements other
than those now at issue, on 30 March 2001 Verio submitted objections
to the provisions of both the proposed VeriSign registry agreements
and the proposed unsponsored TLD agreements relating to limitations
on use of the registry bulk-zone-file and Whois data for unsolicited
commercial marketing.
On 2 April 2001, the
ICANN Board approved
the proposed revised VeriSign agreements (with further revisions)
in resolution 01.47. These registry agreements provided that bulk-zone-file
and Whois data provided to third parties as required by the agreements
could not be used for mass commercial marketing by telephone and
facsimile, in addition to by e-mail. On 2 April, the Board also
adopted resolution 01.48, authorizing the President "to take
such actions as appropriate to implement the [revised VeriSign registry]
agreements."
The first two new TLD
agreements, for .biz and .info,
were completed with all their appendices and posted on ICANN's web
site on 26 and 27 April 2001. On 7 May 2001, the Board adopted resolution
01.61, which authorized entry of the registry agreements for
those TLDs, containing the same restrictions on third-party use
of bulk-zone-file and Whois data as in the newly revised VeriSign
agreements. The Board also adopted resolution
01.62, providing:
that the President
is authorized to implement the agreements once they are signed,
including by accrediting registrars for the .biz and .info top-level
domains (in that regard, registrars already accredited and in
good standing for .com, .net, and .org may be accredited for .biz
and/or .info without additional qualifying procedures upon entering
an accreditation agreement that the President determines is consistent
with the existing accreditation agreement for .com, .net, and
.org, conformed to variations in contractual terminology and circumstances
of the new TLDs).
f.
Entry of New Registrar Accreditation Agreements. As contemplated
by Board resolution 01.62, the ICANN staff prepared a new
form of registrar accreditation agreement. That agreement allowed
registrars to choose which TLDs (including the new TLDs) for which
they wished to be accredited. It also incorporated several adjustments
to the November 1999 .com/.net/.org accreditation agreement to "conform[]
to variations in contractual terminology and circumstances of the
new TLDs." These conforming changes included a revision to
the bulk registrar Whois provision so that its language concerning
third-party marketing use of the data matched exactly the bulk-zone-file
and Whois provisions of the new registry agreements for .biz and
.info, and the revised agreements for .com, .net, and .org, all
as approved by the Board.
Analysis
of Verio's Reconsideration Request
Analysis of Verio's request
is complicated by uncertainty as to what it seeks to have reconsidered.
From the request, it is clear that Verio objects to the provisions in
the May 2001 registrar accreditation agreement providing that bulk Whois
data that registrars are required to provide to third parties may not
be used for mass commercial solicitation by telephone and facsimile,
in addition to by e-mail. What is not clear, however, is whether Verio
is challenging:
(a) the Board's 7 May 2001
authorization for the President to enter new registrar accreditation
agreements "conformed to variations in contractual terminology
and circumstances of the new TLDs", or
(b) the 17 May 2001 action
by the President under that authorization, by which the language of
the former agreements was adjusted in various ways, including in the
provision concerning mass marketing by telephone and facsimile.
The validity of these two
actions is considered in turn below. In the future, however, those requesting
reconsideration are strongly urged to state clearly in their requests
"the specific action of ICANN for which review or reconsideration
is sought", as required by the Reconsideration
Policy.
The
Validity of the Board's Actions. Verio challenges the change from
the prior version of the registrar accreditation agreement on two procedural
grounds:
(a) Verio argues that the
change was not made in conformity with the notice and comment provisions
of ICANN's Bylaws. See Bylaws,
Art. III, § 3(b).
(b) Additionally, Verio
argues that Section
II.F.7(a) of the prior registrar accreditation agreement required
ICANN to follow the procedures for demonstration of consensus outlined
in Section I.B of
that agreement.
a. Bylaws Article III.
Article
III, § 1 of ICANN's Bylaws requires ICANN to operate "in
an open and transparent manner." In order to facilitate this
goal Article
III, § 3(b) of the Bylaws provides that "[w]ith respect
to any policies . . that substantially affect . . . third parties
. . . the Board will . . . [1] provide public notice . . .; [2] provide
a reasonable opportunity for parties to comment . . .; and [3] hold
a public forum at which the proposed policy will be discussed."
As described in the Factual
Background section above, the adjustment of the provisions relating
to mass-marketing use of bulk-zone-file and Whois data was made after
extensive public consultation in connection with the new TLD registry
agreements (e.g., .biz and .info) and the revisions of the VeriSign
registry agreements (.com, .net, and .org). The notice and comment
period before the adoption of the registry agreements provided the
public with detailed notice of the various changed provisions that
were proposed in the registry agreements regarding the acceptable
uses of bulk-accessed Whois data; members of the public were provided
extensive opportunities to comment; and a Public Comment Forum was
held in Melbourne on the changed provisions.
The change, of which Verio
now complains, to the provisions concerning telephone and facsimile
marketing using bulk registrar Whois data was a necessary result of,
and fully encompassed within, the lengthy process by which the Board
adopted the registry agreements. The goal behind the policy change
limiting uses of bulk-zone-file and Whois data for mass marketing
was the protection against unwanted solicitation and invasions of
privacy by those intrusive marketing mechanisms. It was apparent that
this objective could not have been achieved without conforming adjustments
to the registrar accreditation agreement. The conforming of the registrar
accreditation agreement to changes in the registry agreements was
a natural and inevitable consequence of the broader adjustment in
the Whois/bulk-zone-file marketing provisions; without the conforming
changes to the registrar accreditation agreement, the changes to the
registry agreement would have been a dead letter, without meaning.
In fact, Verio clearly
understood in late March 2001 that these specific changes proposed
in the registry agreements would apply to registrars as well, as demonstrated
by its objection in its letter
of 30 March 2001. In that letter, Verio raised the same substantive
objections to the VeriSign and unsponsored TLD registry agreements
that it asserts in its reconsideration request to the registrar accreditation
agreement. Moreover, at several points in the letter, Verio describes
the considerations at the registry and registrar levels interchangeably.
Accordingly, the reconsideration
committee concludes that the notice-and-comment requirements of Article
III were satisfied in connection with the approval of the registry
agreements and that the making of conforming changes to the registrar
accreditation agreements to implement the then-already-adopted policies
did not require a duplicative notice and comment period.
b. Prior Registrar Accreditation
Agreement. Verio also argues that the November 1999 registrar
accreditation agreement required ICANN to follow the detailed procedures
set forth there to make any change to the policy regarding bulk access
to Whois data. Verio notes that section II.F.7 of the November 1999
registrar accreditation agreement states that the registrar's obligations
to provide bulk access to Whois data "shall remain in effect
until . . . replacement of this policy with a different ICANN-adopted
policy." Under Section II.B of the November 1999 agreement, the
adoption of a different "ICANN-adopted policy" is subject
to prescribed procedures for documenting consensus.
Verio's assertion, however,
misperceives its role with respect to the registrar accreditation
agreement. ICANN's agreements with stakeholders, such as registrars,
contain commitments by the stakeholders to implement various policies
developed by the community through the ICANN process. To measure the
stakeholder's commitment, the agreements include provisions regarding
the documentation of establishment of policies that must be implemented.
In contrast, to these commitments to implement, the procedures by
which the community formulates policies through the ICANN process
are governed by ICANN's bylaws and related documents (such as the
reconsideration policy).
Where, as here, a stakeholder
(such as a registrar) voluntarily agrees with ICANN to revise the
procedures for its implementation of ICANN policies by replacing an
existing agreement with a new one, the terms of the old agreement
are no longer effective. When a new registrar accreditation agreement
is offered to a potential or existing registrar, it may at that time
choose to sign it or not; if it chooses not to sign it, its rights
and obligations continue to be governed by any previous agreement
until its term expires.
A challenge by a third
party, such as Verio, to ICANN's willingness to enter a particular
implementation agreement with a stakeholder, however, is governed
by the bylaws and related policies under which the community develops
policy through the ICANN process, not by the cancelled agreement between
ICANN and the stakeholder. This is made clear by the terms of the
November 1999 registrar accreditation agreement itself, which states
that the "Agreement shall not be construed to create any obligation
by either ICANN or Registrar to any non-party to the Agreement."
Verio is not a party to the registrar accreditation agreement, and
thus has no standing to assert any claims under the agreement, even
if (and we do not believe this is the case) it could be shown that
there was a breach of the November 199 version of that agreement.
Validity
of President's Actions. It appears clear to the committee that the
President acted properly in conforming the registrar accreditation agreement
to the changed registry agreements. Board resolution
01.62 authorized entry of new accreditation agreements "that
the President determines [are] consistent with the existing accreditation
agreement for .com, .net, and .org, conformed to variations in contractual
terminology and circumstances of the new TLDs." The identical language
from the new registry agreements concerning marketing uses of bulk-zone-file/Whois
data was incorporated in the bulk Whois provisions of the new registrar
accreditation agreement. The committee believes this adjustment to the
registrar accreditation agreement was well within the President's authority.
Substantive
Objections to Restrictions on Mass Marketing Use of Whois Data.
Verio also raises substantive challenges to the mass-marketing restrictions
in its request for reconsideration. A request for reconsideration, however,
is not the appropriate vehicle for Verio to raise questions about the
substantive policy justifications for the restrictions. This committee's
role is to ensure that appropriate processes were followed, not to re-debate
the policy choices already made by the Board after community discussion.
That discussion (which included Verio's comments in its letter
of 30 March 2001) led to the Board's May 2001 adoption of the new
TLD and VeriSign registry agreements with the provisions.
The reconsideration committee
notes that the DNSO is currently conducting a review of Whois policy,
including the appropriate marketing uses of bulk Whois data. The substantive
challenges raised by Verio are best addressed within that bottom-up
process.
Conclusion
The reconsideration committee
recommends that the Board call the issues raised by Verio to the attention
of the DNSO Names Council, which has appointed a Whois committee to
consider possible policy adjustments in this area. Until development
and adoption of policy adjustments through that process, the Board should
not take any action to require a change to the terms of the registrar
accreditation agreement as sought by Verio.
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