[council] Discussion Paper on Redemption Periods for Deleted Names

[Louis Touton <touton@icann.org>]

To the Names Council:

Over the past several months, ICANN has encountered a rising tide of 
complaints regarding problems with domain names deleted through 
mistake, inattention, or fraud.  In some cases, a deleted name has 
been re-registered by another party that abusively demands ransom 
for the domain's restoration to the original registant.  The effects 
of inadvertent deletions can be dramatic; for example, a few months
ago an ISP lost a domain name providing e-mail service to several
thousand customers.

To promote community discussion of this situation, ICANN staff has 
prepared and posted a discussion paper
<http://www.icann.org/registrars/redemption-proposal-14feb02.htm>.  The
paper suggests one possible remedy:  placing all deleted names into a
non-resolving state for a 30-day period, during which a registrant that
did not intend the deletion would likely notice the mistake and could
redeem the name for a service charge.

We hope the DNSO, as well as individual registry operators and
registrars, will find this discussion paper helpful and will strive to
work toward a solution that makes domain names more secure.

Best regards,

Louis Touton