Elliot and all, If Registrars and Registries are not going to police their registrants, and ICANN is not going to enforce it's own rules, and LOCAL law enforcement is ill equipped to handle the task of errant registrants, than whom is going to do the enforcement, santa claus? Or maybe mickey mouse, eh? The ultimate authority here is that DCO/NTIA is whom needs to either take the situation in hand or the courts will eventually. Problem with the courts doing so is that of a jurisdictional consideration. Therefore it would seem that perhaps DOC/NTIA needs to submit legislation that would be used to address this ongoing and growing problem in a thoughtful but effective manner. This would mean though that DOC/NTIA would remain in control of ICANN forever which would not suite the europeans and other countries sensitivities and profound anti-American attitude abroad. Needless to say this problem will get even worse as new gTLD's and IDN gTLD's are added as per the ICANN decision recently taken in Paris last month. So what is a viable and workable solution? One thing for sure is that we don't want anyone from Tucows or Godaddy calling the tune for everyone, and likely registrants with either may be a bit concerned in same making these judgments for their DN's. If so, than maybe they can transfer their DN's to a more Registrant "Friendly" Registrar? A novel idea? Hardly! Should we wait until Obama is elected president and his promise of appointing a Internet czar make these calls? Maybe, maybe not, as I am sure whomever that czar was, and god forbid if it was Vint Cerf, an likely candidate, than perhaps a lottery of submitted names with a random name selection program doing the selection. After all ICANN, DOC/NTIA, and most other nations support various lotteries of different sorts. Yeah, Charlie Manson or Terry Childs might just win, who knows, but at least it would have been a completely random process and no bias could be claimed legitimately. Yet I can see political games being played with this suggestion or idea as well. A conundrum? Perhaps. My own solution only: Get the Independent registrants constituency up and running and let them by blind lot elect a DN abusive name czar and let him or her serve for a 18 month term making these judgment calls under some strict rules developed ONLY by the Independent Registrant constituency. Any appeals to this czar's decision would of course be eligible for legal appeal in a court of proper and most importantly "Competent" jurisdiction's court of appeals, or non-US equivalent. The problem with such appeals is finding a "Competant" judge in any jurisdiction in said court of appeals or non-US equivalent. It's either something very similar to my solution, or the IPC will essentially be making the judgment calls on this as they have the GNSO council in their back pocket... elliot noss wrote:
oops. link here: http://www.theregiter.co.uk/2008/07/21/registrars_cater_to_steroids_sellers/... On 22-Jul-08, at 6:48 AM, Danny Younger wrote:
[Forwarded message]
Networks of steroid dealing domains are sponsored through U.S.-based companies who refuse to shut them down even after being notified. LegitScript.com and Knujon.com have worked together to develop a report concerning extensive steroid distribution networks online. Steroids designated by the Department of Justice as Schedule 3 Substances were found at the 156 web domains listed in this report. The easy availability of illicit substances through these domains is shocking. Even more shocking is the lack of cooperation from the Registrars that sponsor these sites. On July 1 we issued joint letters to eight registrars: Abacus America, DSTR Acquisition VII, Dynadot.com, Everyones Internet, eNom Inc, EstDomains Inc, GoDaddy/Wild West, and Parava Networks Inc. In these letters we listed the websites, described the banned substances offered at each, and detailed how these sites were violating Internet policy, the Registrars own terms of service, and the law. Only three Registrars responded, two declining to cooperate, one stating they would look into it after several strong emails. A letter to one Registrar, Parava Networks Inc, was returned by the Postal Service as undeliverable, calling into question the general legitimacy of this particular company. While no one is accusing any of these Registrars of being actively involved in the illicit distribution, it is a simple fact that none of these sites would exist without the sponsorship of these Internet companies. Some Registrars may feel their first obligation is to their customers, but their real primary obligations are to the law and the stability of the Internet registration system. Everyone who registers an Internet domain is required to affirm that they are not registering the domain name for an unlawful purpose and the Registrar is required to ensure that this policy is enforced. For too long there has been a false perception that the Internet is lawless, but it isnt. The rules are just not enforced and the stakeholders have been unaccountable. Knujon and LegitScript feel that these Registrars also have a moral and ethical responsibility to the public since the sale and distribution of these illicit substances poses a grave health risk. These websites purport to offer steroids to anyone without prescription or age verification. It is our hope that in releasing this information public awareness of the problem will increase. The full Steroid Report is available here: http://legitscript.com/Steroid%20Report.pdf The press release is here: http://legitscript.com/newsitems/show/10 A list of the Registrars, web domains in question, the substances offered at each, and samples of the site content can be viewed here: http://www.knujon.com/schedule3/dir.html For more information, please contact: John Horton 877-534-4879 LegitScript.com Or Dr. Robert Bruen +1.802.579.6288 http://coldrain.net http://knujon.com Garth Bruen gbruen@knujon.com
Regards,
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 281k members/stakeholders strong!) "Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" - Abraham Lincoln "Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt "If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B; liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by P: i.e., whether B is less than PL." United States v. Carroll Towing (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947] =============================================================== Updated 1/26/04 CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security IDNS. div. of Information Network Eng. INEG. INC. ABA member in good standing member ID 01257402 E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com My Phone: 214-244-4827