On 11/10/2013 01:15 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:
please be so kind to find the answer below, to the question which Evan had asked at the public forum in Durban. The question was: "why is Section 9 of the RAA entitled 'Registrant Benefits and Responsibilities' ?"
It is long past time, indeed it is decades past time, that the contractual tree that underlies ICANN's regulatory structure ought to recognize and declare that the ultimate purpose of that structure is to benefit those who register and those who use domain names. ICANN's focus is on the structure of registries and registrars. An inquiring outsider could understandably reach the conclusion that in ICANN's systems registrants and users are not of particular value or concern. There is much talk about registrants and domain name users, but it is talk - it is vapor blowing in a light breeze. It is pleasant to see but lacking in substance. What is long overdue is the recognition - legally enforceable recognition - that this system is for the benefit of domain name registrants and those on the net who use domain names. In the law of contracts there is a principle of law known as Third Party Beneficiary Rights. This is a means through which third parties, who are not themselves direct parties to a contractual relationship can obtain powers to enforce and compel the obligations of that contract upon the direct parties. It is time to clearly recognize and specifically declare that ICANN's web of contracts imbues domain name registrants and domain name users with defined third party beneficiary rights that they may enforce upon registrars and registries, and upon ICANN itself, even in the absence of ICANN's participation, even in the absence of ICANN's consent. --karl--