[ncdnhc-discuss] Re: Mission creep and consumer protection

[Alejandro Pisanty - DGSCA y FQ, UNAM]

Milton,

the "transfers" task force is a good example to analyze indeed.

I hope that this TF, which is doing DNSO work, is doing policy-level and
not operational-level work. I.e. it is looking at the principles which
determine the way things work, not itself becoming the consumer-protection
agency.

At all times we must still ask ourselves about mission creep before
entering these new, wide fields.

Alejandro Pisanty


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     Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
Director General de Servicios de Computo Academico
UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico
Tel. (+52-55) 5622-8541, 5622-8542 Fax 5550-8405
http://www.dgsca.unam.mx
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On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Milton Mueller wrote:

> >>> "Alejandro Pisanty - DGSCA y FQ, UNAM" <apisan at servidor.unam.mx> 02/10/02 12:45PM >>>
> > there is a difference between doing things in such a way that does not
> > harm consumers and becoming a consumer protection agency. The first
> > is a policy issue and I'm all ears for input. The second is mission creep,
>
> There may be a difference, but it sits somewhere on a slippery slope.
> The "transfers" task force provides a perfect example. Is Verisign
> abusing its hold on registrants by refusing to let go of names that
> people want to transfer? Or is Verisign protecting people against
> "slammers" who try to transfer names without authorization?
>
> More deeply, if it is ICANN's job to create and enforce a
> vertical separation between registrar and registry in order to
> encourage "competition" and "portability" of domain names -
> a job it aggressively assumed from its earliest days -
> then along with that goes the responsibility to define a fair,
> secure and efficient procedure for transfering names.
> Consumer protection has to be an element of that.
>
> Once ICANN has gotten into the business of defining and
> enforcing competition policy why shouldn't suppliers come to
> it and complain that certain practices are anti-competitive?
> And if suppliers can come to ICANN asking it to regulate the
> industry differently (and believe me, they do it daily)
> then why can't consumers come to it and complain about suppliers?
>
> The only problem I have with what Jamie is saying is the
> "Rip Van Winkle" element:
>
> He is assuming that no one else in NCDNHC has noticed it. In
> fact, we have been on this for some time. Some
> people are just waking up to it.
>
> --MM
>
>