[registrars] Brian Cute from NSI is the wrong person for the whois privacycommittee

[Jim Archer <jarcher@registrationtek.com>]

Hi All?

I just wanted to take a moment to explain why I feel Brian Cute is not an 
appropriate choice for the whois privacy steering committee.

Brian has been working in our industry only since February.  In general, I 
would oppose placing someone so new to our group and our industry in a 
position this substantial.

But Brian’s nomination raises greater concerns.  Brian is now Director of 
Policy at NSI, currently the registrar with the most market share, the most 
cash to throw around, the most clout in Washington DC and, perhaps, the 
most quickly tumbling stock price.

We all know that NSI has in the past engaged in what many people have 
agreed are deceptive marketing practices.  They were told to stop 
repeatedly by US courts before they completely stopped. I have been 
contacted privately by a number ? and not a small number ? of people since 
my last postings on this topic who told me that there were in fact more 
lawsuits than I mentioned, and at least one investigation as well.  More 
troubling, most of these people said although they agree that Brian is not 
a proper choice, they would prefer not to say so publicly.

Speaking from direct experience, our customers and staff received the 
“renewal notices.”  The only way we can see that NSI got the registrant 
information is from whois.  If the data came from some other source then 
whois I would like for NSI to tell me, and all of us, where they got it. 
Until they do, what we have here is compelling circumstantial evidence that 
NSI mined the whois data or acquired it from someone else who mined it for 
use in this deceptive marketing, and who knows what other purposes.

When asked directly if Brian supports the use of whois data for this 
purpose, he declines to answer.  When asked directly if he feels that the 
marketing campaign was proper, he refuses to answer, even though the US 
courts have ruled against NSI.  Why is it that Brian and NSI can not simply 
admit that they made a mistake?  Why won’t they say that they won’t do it 
again.  Do they still have the data?

It is inconceivable that Brian reports to different people than those who 
not just authorized and conducted that “renewal” campaign and who continued 
it (to some extent) even after a court ordered them to stop.  Why do they 
want Brian on this committee?  Why are they willing to expend resources to 
support his membership on this committee? Can you really convince yourself 
that it is because they want to benefit all registrars and our industry? 
Do you really believe that Brian will support policies that his superiors 
oppose?  Do you really believe he will oppose policies his superiors 
support?  And, most of all, would you support Brian’s superiors as members 
of the whois privacy committee?  If not, then you should not support Brian. 


So here we are today, selecting a representative for the whois “privacy” 
committee.  So far Brian has 8 votes!   Folks, putting Brian Cute on this 
committee is just like assigning the fox to guard the henhouse.  As others 
have correctly noted, this is not a big-registrar vs small registrar issue. 
Its just a right vs wrong issue.  This is wrong.

Jim

*************************
James W. Archer
CEO
http://www.RegistrationTek.com