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ICANN Wants To Change Rules For GTLDs
An anonymous reader writes "The May 10th deadline for comments on the .net registry agreement renewal has arrived with new domain name dispute changes that aid corporations. Instead of UDRP, the new agreement proposes adding the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) process to the .net TLD. The URS is a quick $200 process for a trademark holder to disable and take ownership of a domain. URS also reduces the panel size from 1-3 people to a single person. You can still comment on the proposal by sending an email to ICANN (net-agreement-renewal@)."
So it only takes $200 and a single bribe to take someone's domain. Thats efficiency!
So now people like Sony can just slap this on, for example, the domain Geohotz was using and it's done- no more website for you. Anti-Sony forum? Bam, shut down. You get my drift. Thanks guys, that's a well thought-out and simply great idea. *facepalm*
Big government looking out for big business. The little guy is fu#k@d over.
They made up their minds some time ago that they will sell gTLDs, and come hell or high water that is what they will do. All the reason and logic in the world won't stop this machine.
The best you can do is find what will replace this broken registry system, and invest in it. Of course, eventually the ICANN idiots will end up in charge of that, and break it, too.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
If URS really will work the way its described at http://www.newdomains.org/news/New_gTLDs_Uniform_Rapid_Suspension_System_URS, it's not as bad as the summary suggests.
It's time to change the whole basis of domain trust relationships. Or, in other words, let's try again to establish a completely separate domain infrastructure.
This is fully possible because there is nothing in the design of the internet protocols that confers power to ICANN and it's corporate teat suckers to own the domain name space. That trust relation exists in a combination of what domain name server each computer chooses to use (in /etc/resolv.conf for Unix/Linux users), and the root zone hints file in the domain name server itself.
Oh, but wait ... the nay-sayers will argue that this will fragment the internet.
And I agree, it will fragment the internet. And that's a GOOD THING. Fragmenting the internet would mean we don't have to deal with corporate B.S. so much. This would then be the people's network. Let the corporates and all their loony lawyer types talk to themselves over the corporate network. We don't want to be bound by stupid rules (like trademarks, patents, and copyrights) that give others the power to take even our very thoughts away from us.
Just start a whole new root zone. Start over with the domain name space. Ban "dot com" entirely (or more precisely, leave "dot com" to the trademark peddlers).
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
Nobody should even think about disabling a domain for trademark claims until or unless a court of law where the trademark was registered issued an order that effect or a finding that the domain was actually violating the trademark. One or even three people working for the TLD or ICANN aren't qualified to interpret and apply trademark law. Arbitrarily re-assigning domains is simply bad for business. Also if the domain is older than the trademark it would not be disabled from claims about that trademark.
Well yeah, Germany is a rich country and supposedly has always had a love for gadgetry, so it makes perfect sense.
Why? Germany has a lot of websites for some reason?
Kinky porn and David Hasselhoff.
ICANN Stopped being about the common good many years ago.
The only goal that ICANN has is to make money for ICANN and the registrars that support it.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Microsoft should pay the $200 and seize the entire TLD.
ICANN HAZ YOUR DOMAIN
Time to offend someone
it puts the cheeseburger in its mouth
ICANN has cheeseburger?
Perhaps, but using nuclear weapons against squatters, trolls and spammers has some appeal to me, no matter who does it.
Say that after you find yourself in the house next to the squatter (or the city next to them, for that matter). If we give them a tool to use against "the bad guys" they will simply redefine who "the bad guys" are every time they want to use it. Or do you trust them not to abuse this power in pursuit of their corporate anti-consumer agendas? Have you been paying attention to Sony lately?
You almost made me write a new sig, but I'll hold off for now.
"The only goal that ICANN has is to make money for ICANN and the registrars that support it."
Let's rework that famous quote:
"At first I didn't care because I thought it was about a buck for ICANN. Then I discovered the abuse potential but TFA said it was for battling squatters and scammers. I pointed out the potential damage to Your Rights Online but an AC appeared and told me to take off my tinfoil hat. Then the worst case scenario became signed into fact, and it was too late."
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
This is pretty well silly. Trademark is common law, registered, international, national and just about every other sort of monkey court in existence. ICANN may be opening themselves up to some real silly nastiness. The sort of thing they will richly deserve if they go through with this.
Well, puns being the lowest form of comedy, they are uniquely suited to Slashdot posts.
Have you read parts of the ICANN PDF (second link from this overview page)? Start on page 25, but pay attention to page 29. First, your domains are frozen by the registry, and your registrar is obligated to freeze your whois information. You have two weeks to respond -- hopefully you don't receive email at a frozen domain! Also, hope that the authoritative nameservers any of your domains (URS targeted or not) use are not frozen!
The UDRP process was more transparent, often used larger panels of arbiters, and domains under complaint were not disabled until the UDRP process was complete. The URS describes some unnamed Third Party provider to process the URS request. Where is the transparency? The provider should be required to be open and publicly post all of the filings, requests, and responses. They should also require multi-person teams to not concentrate so much power in the hands of a single individual. It should be modeled after a judiciary system with checks and balances. I'm not saying UDRP can't be streamlined to process bulk requests and even short the response time, but two weeks is very short- especially if your email is disabled at you must wait for the certified letter.
URS is a -- claimed to be guilty, freeze your domain, then prove your innocence -- process.
That's not squatting.
What isn't squatting?
Simply put, squatting is limited to registering vreizon.com then putting up cell phone ads. Wanting cars.com just because you want it, doesn't make the owner a squatter (even if the domain is parked or has no content). Nor is the person who registers a domain, then someone else comes along and files a trademark on the term for UDRP purposes.
Similar to real estate, domain names are property and operate under the concept of capitalism.
Domain names are IP not RP. Economically speaking, it is very different from real estate. Real estate is finite, expensive, and owned permanently unless transferred. Domain names are infinite, cheap, and are only available for rent.
It seems like almost every English dictionary word is registered as a domain right now. Any domain that expires is immediately snatched up by squatters. This is an unfortunate problem.
I was speaking in terms of how the courts view domains:
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-223597.html
More recently, where all this is headed:
http://www.domainnamenews.com/legal-issues/are-domain-names-considered-property-or-not/2917
Btw, you can do the same as the "squatters". Just go to namejet.com or snapnames.com and bid for the names you want. There's nothing magical about the process, when a name drops it goes into auction. If it's a good name then expect to pay many thousands of dollars to outbid the others that want it. Doesn't get more fair than that.
And even if you applied for a trademark after the fact, (theoretically) it holds no water in the UDRP process.
The UDRP process is almost exclusively based on trademarks. While I'm not aware of any specific cases, it seems unlikely that a trademark holder would be denied the right to a domain against a squatter who had no trademark at all.
For reference, scan through dnw.com sometime (not my site). UDRPs are denied all the time because the claimant registers a trademark on a term, then tries to hijack the exact match domain from someone who registered the domain name earlier. As a matter of fact, there is a penalty for such behavior called 'reverse domain name hijacking'. Unfortunately it's not enforced enough.
Domains are valuable. If you want to direct your frustration at anyone, direct it at the corps and deep pockets that are trying to corrupt the whole process. If you own a good name you're automatically a target for defending it. And all the costs associated with the defense.
The little guy was always fucked over. You're just hearing about it these days because they don't worry about hiding it.
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.