At 10/01/2008 11:43 AM, John L wrote:

I still think that the world would be better with no AGP at all, but it seems one could make a plausible argument for holding a domain for the length of time it takes to run a shopping cart through a checkout.

Unless by adding and then dropping it, they are advertising to those with even fewer scruples that perhaps money can be made by snapping it up.

The Network Solutions frontrunning/hijacking story is continuing to get coverage ... this morning it was the lead on the webbalert.com podcast: http://webbalert.com/2008/01/january-14th.html (Less widely distributed, I blogged about it too: http://wrythings.net/2008/01/08/frontrunning-tasty-domains/) MM

It is a subject of serious concern among many at the Board level. Please share thoughts you'd like me to add to the discussion. I've already pointed toward ALAC's statement on the add-grace period, since that's what NetSol is exploiting. --Wendy Nick Ashton-Hart wrote:

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=

-- 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/

Wendy, thanks for soliciting input on this. Given the case that has been made by some registrars for the non-tasting uses of the AGP, I have tried to make the case that there may be other ways of eliminating tasting which could be as effective and certainly quicker to implement. Although these other methods may well address NetSol's new and innovative use of the AGP, the fact that they have started "helping" users in this way does put the statements of registrars in question. Note that as a result of the outcries, NetSol has already made some changes - http://blog.domaintools.com/2008/01/network-solutions-is-getting-better/. They no longer register the name if just queried - only when it is put in your shopping basket. Also, they are now registering the name so that it does not show up in zone file update (where domainers seeking to monetize the name could see it). It is hard to believe that being the world's oldest commercial registrar, they could not have foreseen these issues. That notwithstanding, it is encouraging that they have made these changes. On the relatively rare occasions where someone is trying to register a name that is likely to be immediately wanted by others (the-latest-natural-disaster.org or BUY-apple's-newest-product.com), the NetSol service could be considered a good thing. But even then, it should be an opt-in selection, and it should be held for a reasonable amount of time to complete the transaction. When I buy theatre tickets, I am told the seats will be held for 10 minutes to allow me to complete the transaction. I can see no defendable position for holding a domain name for four days simply because that is slightly under the AGP period. If NetSol continues to do this, this will simply force other registrars to do the same, otherwise it gives NetSol a competitive advantage (putting a name in their shopping cart allows you to block other registrants for 4 days without putting up any money). Alan At 16/01/2008 07:27 AM, Wendy Seltzer wrote:

It is a subject of serious concern among many at the Board level. Please share thoughts you'd like me to add to the discussion. I've already pointed toward ALAC's statement on the add-grace period, since that's what NetSol is exploiting.

--Wendy