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Re: what problem are we solving? (was Re: ICANN opens up Pandora's Box of new TLDs)

  • From: Bill Nash
  • Date: Fri Jun 27 18:31:10 2008
On Fri, 27 Jun 2008, David Conrad wrote:

On Jun 27, 2008, at 10:57 AM, Bill Nash wrote:
I'd rather see ICANN spend time on current problems instead of making new ones.

Out of curiosity, what are the problems you feel ICANN should be spending its time on?


For starters, has Verisign ever been sanctioned by ICANN for it's business practices, with stupid stuff occurring as late as what, this past February (the front running debacle)? If ICANN is supposed to be encouraging competition, et cetera, why is Verisign still in business?

Also, show me a single registrar that actually gaurantees their service. Almost every registrar has boilerplate user agreements that shafts the domain owner in the event of any failure, even if the registrar screws it up. I'm not talking about some standard protection against user errors or identidy theft, I'm talking about a genuine 'If our service breaks, you get to keep both halves.'

Would you use a registrar with these terms of service? I bet you do.
Would you use them if you had a choice? I bet you wouldn't.

"Because certain states do not permit the limitation of elimination of liability for certain types of damage, $registrar's liability shall be limited to the smallest amount permitted by law. $registrar disclaims any loss or liability resulting from:

1. access delays or interruptions to our web site or domain name registration system;
3. events beyond our control (i.e. acts of God);
4. the loss of registration or processing of a domain name or the use of a domain name;
5. the failure for whatever reason to renew a domain name registration;
7. errors, omissions or misstatements;
8. deletion of, failure to store, or failure to process or act upon email messages;
9. processing of updated information to Your registration record;
11. errors taking place with regard to the processing of Your application;"

I pulled a couple of lines out because they were things that I felt a registrar might actually be indemnified, in the event of, but seriously.
How does an entire class of business truly serve the consumer with these kinds of policies?

reg·is·trar
1. a person who keeps a record; an official recorder.
2. an agent of a bank, trust company, or other corporation who is responsible for certifying and registering issues of securities.

Except for domain registrars, who are only really a registrar when they make a mistake that could cost your entire commercial enterprise.

I'll be the first to admit there's been progress made on the front of preventing domain theft and other shenanigans, but when it comes down to it, running a domain registry doesn't seem to be in the best interests of the primary consumers of such a product.

- billn