ICANN/DNSO

Motion for creating a drating committee to porpose a policy on prohibitng DN warehousing.

Background:

Many of you have also probably got some hints that some testbed registrars, or resellers therof, are registering names on their own (ie, acting as both registrars and registrants) and are subsequently trying to resell those names to end users, indeed at a higher price.

This is a thoroughly disturbing behavior that ultimately will bring reverse reputation to all of us, registrars, registry, DNSO and ICANN. Isubmt that we should try to propose a policy to cope with this problem.

In the ICANN Accreditation Agreement, you can find the following provision:

"III.I.9. Registrar shall abide by any ICANN-adopted policy prohibiting or restricting warehousing of or speculation in domain names by registrars."

No such policy has been established so far by ICANN: My intention is asking the Names Council that the DNSO should propose it to the Board in time to be adopted during the LA Meeting.

In order to do that we don't need a full-fledged working group procedure. A simplified drafting committeee could be enough. Such committee should be comprised of a small number of people, most of them registrars, as we are the ones facing the problem/in a better position to understand the implications/more likely to devise the solutions. With some presence of other interested constituencies.

Such policy should not be very complicated. The material provision, prohibiting the registrars to registrer domains on their own in order to traffick or resell them to end users, is pretty straightforward The likely sanctions are also rather evient: warnings; suspension from accessing the SRS, with possible terminations as accredited gTLD registrar.

The real problem is devising the implementation procedure. Who should "review"the possible allegations. Who should "judge" such cases? The Regaistrar Constituency? (thru a Code of Conduct; possible antitrust impliations...); the Names Council? ICABB CoD? A special body set up for this purpose? an arbitration authority? (perhaps using the panels and rules we will use for domain names disputes, adapted to the cirucmstances?)....

Amadeu Abril i Abril