Comments filed today by American Red Cross

Debra Hughes HughesDeb at USA.REDCROSS.ORG
Fri Jul 23 00:02:58 CEST 2010


And let's remember that individuals that register domain names should be
responsible for their contractual obligations, right?  To be clear, I am
not minimizing that an organization may have more resources than a
person who registers a domain name.  However, we have to find a way to
balance the interests - helping those trying to quickly take down
domains registered by bad actors for serious cases and helping
individual registrants understand the nature of the playing field when
they enter this commercial arena.  Because honestly, one could argue
that obtaining a domain name is a commercial transaction, even when used
to connect family members.  And when individuals engage in commercial
activities, like buying keywords to help people find their domain, maybe
they should carefully consider the rules of the road.    

 

Debra Y. Hughes l Senior Counsel 
American Red Cross 

Office of the General Counsel  
2025 E Street, NW 
Washington, D.C. 20006 
Phone: (202) 303-5356 
Fax: (202) 303-0143 
HughesDeb at usa.redcross.org <mailto:HughesDeb at usa.redcross.org>  

________________________________

From: NCSG-NCUC [mailto:NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of
tlhackque
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 3:21 PM
To: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Comments filed today by American Red Cross

 

I know we all despise the spammers and fraud-mongers.  And removing and
prosecuting them will all due haste should certainly be a goal.  

 

However, let's also remember that many individuals register domain
names.  Perhaps their family name - or their pet's name - or... happens
to be a keyword in a advertising campaign in a language they don't know
for a product they've never heard of on the other side of the globe that
they've never visited.  And that individual happens to take a vacation
when Megacorp's legal department decides to make an issue of it.  

 

I don't think 20 days is unreasonable - in fact, I don't think 30 days
is unreasonable if I had to respond to such a complaint.  I certainly
don't have your organization's legal resources.  And I do - occasionally
- take vacations without reading e-mail.

 

Of course, I'd also like the spammers off the network in a microsecond
or less.  But  let's not amplify the leverage that the large/deep
pockets have over the individuals.  Let's not assume that only the
guilty will get charged.

 

And let's remember that "non-commercial" doesn't just mean large
non-profit groups.  It's supposed to include individuals who who are
registrants - and are not engaged in fraud or 'problematic' use.
 

---------------------------------------------------------
This communication may not represent my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed. 

 

 

________________________________

From: Debra Hughes <HughesDeb at USA.REDCROSS.ORG>
To: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Thu, July 22, 2010 1:43:04 PM
Subject: Re: Comments filed today by American Red Cross

Konstantinos,

 

Regarding rapid decision making, in my comments, we offered the
following suggestion:

 

In addition, the examiner should be required to render a decision within
seven (7) business days, rather than being allowed up to 14 days, with a
goal and best practice of providing the Answer within three (3) days.
Once again, the use of a form Decision should greatly increase the
ability of examiners to provide their Decisions in a rapid manner.

 

Regarding your comments about 14 days to respond, let's also remember
the difference between a "user" of the Internet and a "Registrant".
Your mention of users below is perhaps misplaced.  We are talking about
Registrants of domain names and not end users of the DNS.  A Registrant
had access to the Internet when he/she registered the domain name
(either personally or through another party acting on his/her behalf).
The Registrant had "all the time in the world" to decide to register its
problematic domain name for a problematic use before he/she actually
registered the domain - long before the Complaint was aware.  The
Registrant also had the ability to access the Internet to engage in
fraudulent activity - he/she had plenty of time to consider and prepare
the content and use of the domain name.  It's a bit one-sided to argue
that if an organization sees a problematic use we should agree to 20
days for the Registrant to prepare a response for the reasons you
mention below.  Also, a form for the Answer could minimize the need for
an attorney for Answers, but if not, Registrants should know that the
act of registering a domain name has potential consequences.  A
Registrant willingly enters a contractual relationship with the
registrar when he/she decides to register a domain name.  

 

On a related note, I think new gTLD and other outreach efforts to those
in the developing and emerging regions could offer a primer to the
community about the domain registration process - explaining the
contractual relationship between the registrar and the registrant.
Guidance could be given to the community about these processes,
obligations, what a Registrant "agrees to" when registers a domain name
and an explanation of the potential consequences.  Perhaps those that
offer pro bono legal services can talk about the types of assistance
they can offer Registrants in these scenarios.  These are ideas I am
sharing with those involved with outreach activities within ICANN.
Perhaps there are other ideas NCUC/NCSG members have to help Registrants
understand and the "business" behind the registration process.

 

Debbie

 

 

Debra Y. Hughes l Senior Counsel 
American Red Cross 

Office of the General Counsel  
2025 E Street, NW 
Washington, D.C. 20006 
Phone: (202) 303-5356 
Fax: (202) 303-0143 
HughesDeb at usa.redcross.org <mailto:HughesDeb at usa.redcross.org>  

________________________________

From: Konstantinos Komaitis [mailto:k.komaitis at strath.ac.uk] 
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 12:21 PM
To: Hughes, Debra Y.; NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: RE: Comments filed today by American Red Cross

 

Just one point I would like to clarify being involved and having
researched on both the UDRP and the URS. In a system of adjudication,
the term 'rapid' does not really refer to the speed leading up to the
adjudication process; rather, it refers to the 'rapidness' of the
decision-making process. And, the recommendation of the STI has been
consistent with this, instructing panels to submit their decisions
within 3 business days. 

 

This distinction in determining 'rapidness' is crucial for the
adjudication process and in Brussels as well as from the comments it
appears that the trademark community misinterprets what we mean by
rapidness. No system is fair if it is rapid during the discovery process
or in any other process leading up to adjudication.

 

And, 14 days is not really fair. Again, just like the problems with the
UDRP, the complainant has all the time in the world to compile, submit
and file the complaint. The Respondent is given only 14 days? What about
legitimate Registrants located in parts of the world with limited
Internet access? For many users the Internet is still not a given. What
about legitimate Registrants whose first language is not English? What
about legitimate Registrants that have to find a lawyer to compile the
Response on their behalf? All these are legitimate reasons for the
deadline to be 20 days - at least that is how I feel and that is what 10
years of UDRP experience teaches us.

 

KK

 

Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis,

Law Lecturer,

Director of Postgraduate Instructional Courses

University of Strathclyde,

The Law School,

The Lord Hope Building,

141 St. James Road,

Glasgow, G4 0LT

UK

tel: +44 (0)141 548 4306

http://www.routledgemedia.com/books/The-Current-State-of-Domain-Name-Reg
ulation-isbn9780415477765

Selected publications:
http://hq.ssrn.com/submissions/MyPapers.cfm?partid=501038

Website: http://domainnamelaw.ning.com/

 

 

From: NCSG-NCUC [mailto:NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of
Debra Hughes
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 4:25 PM
To: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Comments filed today by American Red Cross

 

Thanks, Rafik.  The work of the JAS WG is very important and of course
related, in part, to the outreach work we are both involved with on the
OSC Constituency and Stakeholder Group Operations Work Team.

 

About the thin v. think comment below: In a thin registry (.COM is an
example), the Whois records includes limited data - only enough to
identify the registrar of the domain name (registrar name, registration
status, creation/expiration dates).  So, for a problematic .COM domain,
obtaining the contact details for the registrant is a two (or three or
four or five...) step process for research.  

 

For example,

Step 1: Look up the domain name using a Whois service of choice. Find
out registrar.

Step 2: Then, go to that particular registrar's Whois service to obtain
the publicly available Registrant's contact information. 

Step 3:  If the bad actor is using a privacy/proxy service, I have to
keep my fingers crossed that the privacy/proxy service has a fair (and
hopefully easy and inexpensive) system for me to request the concealed
contact information for the Registrant. Hopefully they will follow their
policy!

Step 4:  Proxy/privacy service does not have a system to request
underlying contact information or ignores request, I have to decide
whether it makes sense to spend donor dollars to get a subpoena, if
applicable or escalate the request for contact information.

 

A record from a registry operating a thick Whois server (like .ORG)
includes the registrant's contact information, admin/tech and the
registrar info.  It eliminates having to go two places to get the
publicly available Registrant contact info, which is important for not
for profit organization that are often asked to do more with less
resources.  The other benefit of a thick registry is when a registrar
goes out of business, the thick registry will retain the registrant info
(except if the registrant used a privacy/proxy service).

 

About the URS, I think fairness is important - fairness to the
registrant and a fair procedure for an organization that is being harmed
by a bad actor from a "clear cut" instance" of trademark abuse."  I
think the suggestion of giving Registrants 14 days, rather than 20 days
to file an Answer is fair, not abusive and consistent with the intent of
"rapid" suspension.  Also, if ICANN provides a form complaint and
reduces the word/page limit, it is possible a Registrant, who is
inexperienced with such actions, might feel less intimidated.  Also, the
suggestion of a form Answer can help inexperienced Registrants prepare
responses.

 

Debbie

 

Debra Y. Hughes l Senior Counsel 
American Red Cross 

Office of the General Counsel  
2025 E Street, NW 
Washington, D.C. 20006 
Phone: (202) 303-5356 
Fax: (202) 303-0143 
HughesDeb at usa.redcross.org <mailto:HughesDeb at usa.redcross.org>  

________________________________

From: NCSG-NCUC [mailto:NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of
Rafik Dammak
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 6:24 AM
To: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Comments filed today by American Red Cross

 

Hello Debbie,

 

Thanks for comments sent to the JAS WG, the document is shared within
the WG members.

 

I was little bit puzzled by the mention of  supporting thick whois as
suggested by IRT, even there are some people arguing for that , I think
that a balanced solution for common ground of different interests is
mandatory with safeguard for privacy. also about URS, maybe we can
assume that there is need make it simple and short, how we can prevent
abuse of using URS for this supposed mechanism to prevent abuse?

Regards

 

Rafik

2010/7/22 Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>

Deb:

Glad to see that Red Cross is endorsing the idea that nonprofits might
use a new gTLD for "internal business purposes under a model that is
different from a commercial, profit-driven new gTLD"

 

________________________________

From: NCSG-NCUC [NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Debra
Hughes [HughesDeb at USA.REDCROSS.ORG]
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 8:21 PM
To: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: [NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS] Comments filed today by American Red Cross

All,

Attached are comments filed by the American Red Cross on the Joint SO/AC
Working Group Report and on DAG4.

<<American Red Cross Comments on Joint SO-AC WG Report - 07212010.pdf>>
<<American Red Cross Comments on DAGv4 - 07212010.pdf>> 

Thanks,

Debbie

Debra Y. Hughes l Senior Counsel

American Red Cross

Office of the General Counsel 

2025 E Street, NW 

Washington, D.C. 20006 

Phone: (202) 303-5356 

Fax: (202) 303-0143

HughesDeb at usa.redcross.org <mailto:HughesDeb at usa.redcross.org> 

 

 

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