Fwd: [council] Response from GoDaddy regarding action taken with respect to a .org domain name

[Harold Feld]

I had hoped that we would have discussion within 
the Constituency on a proper course of action. 
Had I known my note would be forwarded for GNSO 
action, I would have written a longer and more 
substantive note.  I happen to agree with Bruce 
that the Council list is not the place to 
circulate an informal query from a single member.

That said, do I take the lack of response from 
the Constituency to mean that I am the only one 
concerned with the idea that aregistrar may 
unilaterally, acting only on its own best 
judgment, delete a registration?  Without any 
other need for a procedure or effort to contact 
the registrant?  Are members satisfied not merely 
with theoutcome here, but in keeping such 
authority in the hands of registrars generally?

Alternatively, are the other members of the 
Constituency convinced this is not an ICANN 
matter, but one to be addressed by national 
governments under appropriate consumer protection 
laws or other legal recourse?  Or is everyone 
else satsified that the presence of a robust and 
competitive registrar market adequately addresses such concerns?

If I am the only one that sees an issue here, 
that's fine.  But I had hoped that there might be 
others in the Constituency concerned with vesting 
such authority in an unregulated commercial 
entity -- whatever the appropriate outcome in this speciric case.

Harold Feld

At 04:58 PM 1/31/2007, you wrote:
>FYI
>
>--- Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin at melbourneit.com.au> wrote:
>
> > Subject: [council] Response from GoDaddy regarding action taken
> > with respect to a .org domain name
> > Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:16:24 +1100
> > From: "Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin at melbourneit.com.au>
> > To: "Council GNSO" <council at gnso.icann.org>
> >
> > Hello All,
> >
> > Earlier this week there was a posting about a specific case of
> > action taken by a registrar over a domain name.  I don't think the
> > Council list is the appropriate place for discussing specific
> > disputes, but rather the list should be used to highlight general
> > issues that apply to multiple situations which may require policy
> > action.
> >
> > Given that there is a public posting on this list, I gave the
> > Registrar, GoDaddy, the right of reply.
> >
> > See below.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Bruce Tonkin
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tim Ruiz, Vice President, Corporate Development & Policy,
> > GoDaddy
> >
> >
> > We believe, under the circumstances, that we took the appropriate
> > action. This was not about "a controversial speaker" or freedom of
> > speech. This was about inappropriately acquired MySpace credentials
> > being made public. The posted credentials exposed tens of
> > thousands,
> > many no doubt minors, to potential harm. The site publisher could
> > not
> > be reached and we took the appropriate action as allowed under our
> > Registration Agreement and Terms of Service. We stand behind our
> > actions.
> >
> > The author of this note, and the NCUC chair that decided to forward
> > it
> > to the Council list, have indicted us in the very same manner they
> > are
> > accusing us of. They have not even attempted to contact us for an
> > explanation, and have ignored our own response to the CNET News.com
> > article. In fairness, we ask that the Council also consider our
> > response, as well as the responses of others who have taken a
> > different
> > view of our actions.
> >
> >
> > GoDaddy Response:
> >
>http://news.com.com/5208-1025_3-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=24518&messageID=232062&start=-1
> >
> >
> > As awful as this article describes GoDaddy...:
> >
>http://news.com.com/5208-1025_3-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=24518&messageID=232289&start=-1
> >
> >
> > Im sick...:
> >
>http://news.com.com/5208-1025_3-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=24518&messageID=232213&start=-1
> >
> >
> > Am I in the Twilight zone here???:
> >
>http://news.com.com/5208-1025_3-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=24518&messageID=232031&start=-1
> > (This response is apparently from a MySpace user as indicated from
> > a
> > post on her blog, linked to in the above response.)
> >
> >
> > Tim Ruiz
> > Vice President
> > Corporate Development & Policy
> > GoDaddy.com
> > ---------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-council at gnso.icann.org
> > [mailto:owner-council at gnso.icann.org]
> > On Behalf Of GNSO.SECRETARIAT at GNSO.ICANN.ORG
> > Sent: Monday, 29 January 2007 7:35 PM
> > To: 'Council GNSO'
> > Subject: [council] [Fwd: [Fwd: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Recent Actions By Go
> > Daddy]]
> >
> > The Chair of the NCUC has asked that the mail below be circulated
> > on the
> >
> > Council list.
> >
> > Thank you.
> > Glen
> >
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Recent Actions By Go Daddy
> > Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:53:30 -0500
> >
> >
> > I would like to draw attention to the recent actions of the Go
> > Daddy
> > registrar in its decision to pull a .org domain name at the request
> > of
> > social networking site myspace.com because a third party had placed
> > on
> > the site a list of passwords and accounts of myspace users.
> > http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6153607.html
> >
> > This strikes me as a serious abuse of power by a registrar, and
> > should
> > alarm the users of this constituency.  If registrars can exercise
> > such
> > unrestrained authority over registrants, then no controversial
> > speaker
> > is safe.
> >
> > If there is not already a procedure for addressing this, I would
> > strongly urge this constituency to take appropriate action.
> >
> > Harold Feld
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Carlos A. Afonso
> > diretor de planejamento
> > Rits - Rede de Informações para o Terceiro Setor
> > ***************************************************************
> > Projeto Sacix - Apoio técnico a iniciativas de inclusão digital
> > com software livre, mantido pela Rits em colaboração com o
> > Coletivo Digital. Para mais informações:
> > www.sacix.org.br   www.rits.org.br   www.coletivodigital.org.br
> > ***************************************************************
> >
> >
> > --
> > Glen de Saint Géry
> > GNSO Secretariat - ICANN
> > gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org
> > http://gnso.icann.org
> >
> >
> >