[registrars] Fw: [ga] Registrar acquisition and merger policy

["erica" <erica.roberts@bigpond.com>]

For those not following the GA list, you may be interested in the comments
below re the acquisition of Registrars/resellers by Verisign.

erica
----- Original Message -----
From: "William X. Walsh" <william@userfriendly.com>
To: <ga@dnso.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 11:44 PM
Subject: [ga] Registrar acquisition and merger policy


>
> The recent purchase of Registrars.com by Verisign, who also purchased
> NameSecure.com, has made me realize that the ICANN needs to
> incorporate policy documents governing acquisition policies.
>
> I understand the motivation for Verisign, they are facing drops in
> their new domain registration growth rates, and the transfer rate from
> Verisign to other registrars is practically a flood.  Acquisitions
> allow them to offset some of that, even if only temporarily.
>
> I think a hard and fast policy should be create whereby if an existing
> accredited registrar (or their parent company) already directly or
> indirectly controls X% of the registered domain names, they should be
> enjoined against further acquisitions of accredited registrars.
>
> Enforcement actions can include:
>             - Loss of accreditation (most severe)
>             - Penalty fees payable to ICANN on a per domain basis
>             until they come into compliance
>             - 90 day warning to get into compliance. (least severe)
>
> This would serve to bolster the principles of competition, which is
> one of the guiding principles in the Green Paper, White Paper, and in
> the actual DoC agreements.  It would serve to help avoid anything
> resembling an attempt to become, or regain, a monopoly level position,
> and ensure that there will be enough accredited registrars to provide
> competitive advantages to registrants.
>
> I'd be interested in hearing thoughts on this.
>
> I'm sure our alt-chair will tell us to take this to ga-sys, or is it
> ga-icann?  :)  Who can tell?
>
> --
> Best regards,
> William X Walsh <william@userfriendly.com>
> Userfriendly.com Domains
> The most advanced domain lookup tool on the net
> DNS Services from $1.65/mo
>
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