I have made enquiries internally (within ICANN) to see if there is any additional information which I can share with all of you about this (both the specific case and the broader issue). On 10 Jan 2008, at 16:54, Brendler, Beau wrote:
I'm guessing many of you have seen this, but if not...
http://www.domainnamenews.com/featured/domain-registrar-network-solution s-front-running-on-whois-searches/1359
The blog the story references is here: http://www.domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=85864
Perhaps specifically of interest:
"Front running domain names is a bold move by any registrar as it breaks a certain level of trust that the general public places in using a whois search. ICANN SSAC has conducted a "study" on front running recently in which they wrote "ICANN's Registrar Accreditation Agreement and Registry Agreements do not expressly prohibit registrars and registries from monitoring and collecting WHOIS query of domain name availability query data and either selling this information or using it directly," Warehousing domains in order to sell them to "potentially interested parties" isn't specifically forbidden in the registrar contract with ICANN but is addressed in points 3.7.9 and 4.2.5 of the contract in which they leave room for new rules or revisions to the contract."
-----Original Message----- From: Maxim Weinstein [mailto:mweinstein@cyber.law.harvard.edu] Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 8:57 AM To: Brendler, Beau Subject: Domain name front-running by Network Solutions
Hey, Beau. If you haven't already seen this:
http://www.domainnamenews.com/featured/domain-registrar-network-solution s-front-running-on-whois-searches/1359
you should take a look. This is (or should be) big news.
=Max=
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