Response interspersed below...

Wendy Seltzer wrote:

Thanks Evan and Danny,

I think I'd narrow the question: Are parties with privileged access to
domain name data using it to the detriment of users/consumers?

 

Both registries and registrars have access to data that the ordinary
person can't get -- registries through traffic to their zonefiles when a
name is resolved through the DNS (or not resolved because it doesn't yet
exist), registrars through the queries users make in the
pre-registration process.  We should be concerned if they use this
information in an anticompetitive or anti-consumer manner, particularly
in the case of registries, because there's no way the market can correct
these errors.  We can't just choose to use another .com zone.

 

If we can identify that connection between use of limited-access data or
data the user reasonably expects to be kept confidential and resulting
consumer or market harm, I'd support requesting a PDP.

 

--Wendy

Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> Hi Danny,
>
>> Does the ALAC intend to launch a policy-development process on whether and how to restrict GTLD registries
>> or registrars or both from engaging in warehousing of and/or speculating in domain names?
>>
>> http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-20-2008/0004758927&EDATE=
>
> I am in complete agreement that the warehousing of domain names is an
> issue of public concern; however I am personally not sure how to
> adequately address this in a way that actually serves the public good.
> If a registrar isn't warehousing popular names (or near-misspellings or
> popular names, etc), then someone else is. From the public POV, I can't
> see how the "wild west" character of .COM (and possibly other TLDs)
> would be any better if all these domains were in the hands of a private
> squatter rather than a registrar.
>
> Did the registrar have special access to search domains? Only to the
> point that it's cheaper for them to register, and they probably
> developed automated tools before private registrants did. In any case,
> Tucows has been around this field for a very long time; the size and
> "quality" of its stable of names owes more to its early involvement than
> the fact it's a registrar.
>
> Would policies that force registrants out of the domain-warehousing
> business help? Not if the result is simply the sale/auction of domains
> to warehouses run by non-registrar squatters.
>
> The bigger problem of public perception and confidence, at least from my
> view, is the treatment of domain names as chattel/commodity rather than
> identification. And simply regulating registry/registrant ownership of
> domains does not change that. I would argue, for instance, that domain
> names should be subject to the same "use it or lose it" regimen as
> trademarks, for much the same reasons. (IMO, parking does not constitute
> "use").
>
> As a counter-example: When one registers a domain with CIRA (under .ca),
> there needs to be some kind of demonstrated link between the owner and
> the requested domain. I'm sure the process isn't perfect, but it
> demonstrates how, at the registry level, abuses can be minimized through
> core allocation policy.
>
> Thus, the problem is at the registry level with .COM allowing -- indeed
> encouraging -- a free-for-all. Rather than retroactively trying to fix
> that, perhaps the answer is to encourage gTLD alternatives that will
> offer the public greater confidence. One would hope that with a
> more-open, more competitive approach to gTLDs the world's dependence on
> .com -- and especially its perception as the 'global default TLD' -- may
> diminish. That would IMO be the biggest blow to squatters and
> warehousers -- registrants and otherwise.
>
> Having said this, I would welcome any process to produce policy
> initiatives that might (realistically) improve the status quo -- to
> advance to the GNSO or anywhere else. If ALAC isn't interested in your
> offer we can certainly accommodate you within NARALO and advance
> resulting policy initiatives within ALAC that way. At that point our
> challenge is finding people who care about the issue, have the time to
> be well grounded in it, and are articulate enough to advance policy change.
>
> Evan Leibovitch
> Chair, NARALO

--
Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@seltzer.org
Visiting Professor, Northeastern University School of Law
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html
http://www.chillingeffects.org/
https://www.torproject.org/

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