Fwd: [council] .biz/info/org proposed contracts - pricing implications

[Danny Younger]

Mawaki,

There are many issues associated with the proposed
registry contracts for .biz, .info and .org:

1.  These registries have not abided by the
"Procedure for Subsequent Agreement" clause of their
current contracts.  Without a formally tendered
"Renewal Proposal", we cannot review reports on the
TLD's operational history, nor can we assess any
planned enhancements or properly consider past
performance (all of which is critical in arriving at a
decision whether to recommend to the Board that it
pursue a course of action leading to either renewal or
rebid).  These registries were given a six month
extension as of the 10 January 2006 Board meeting to
provide the Renewal Proposals (Resolution 06.02) yet
none has submitted such documentation within the
required timeframe.  I, for one, would be interested
in knowing why PIR failed to launch their OrgCloak
initiative.

2.  Proposed contract provisions allow for mining
traffic data associated with non-existent domains.
This means that domain name speculators will no longer
have to test domains for traffic potential ("domain
tasting") as soon they will be able to purchase data
that reveals which unregistered names have received
the greatest number of hits.  The implication is that
we can expect a flash flood of typosquatting
immediately upon the release of such data as bad
actors will instantly put such data to use.

3.  Price caps have been lifted.  It used to be viewed
as appropriate to guard against abuses of  market
power by having price caps in place.  See "General
Counsel's Second Analysis of VGRS's Request for
Amendment to Registry Agreement", for early thinking
on this topic.  Those caps are now gone in the new
contracts.

4.  Consensus Policy constraints.  Contract language
restricts that which may be the topic of a Consensus
Policy determination.  This strikes at the heart of
the GNSO's activities.

Best regards,
Danny Younger
isoc-ny


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