Re: more Internic nightmare (fwd)

[Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 22:11:13 -0500
From: Dean Robb <pceasy@norfolk.infi.net>
To: NANOG
Subject: Re: more Internic nightmare


At 15:25 3/23/99 -0800, you wrote:
>
>hypotheses:
>  o the whois and zone data are needed for administrative and operational
>    purposes
>  o slime are abusing those data for spamming etc., which denizens of this
>    list seem to hate almost as much as they hate nsi
>  o slime are watching zone/whois changes to send immediate spam to new
>    registrants 'use our wonderful services'
>  o slime are doing massive domain squatting hoping to then extort high
>    prices from more legitimate applicants
>  o ...

Valid hypothesis, and NSI's justification for *some* of their actions.
However, their own numbers (filed with the SEC) indicate that 30% of all
domains go unpaid for *all reasons* (including speculation).  That means
that NSIs actions are hurting 100% of their customers to deal with a 30%
problem. How serious a problem is cybersquatting?  We don't know...all we
know is that NSI *says* it's a problem, there is no independent
verification or hard numbers available.  Rather like making walking illegal
to curb a minor jaywalking problem.

Furthermore, there are a LOT of better ways to solve their
speculation/spamming problem without hurting every single domain
owner...like requiring prepay for domains unless registered by an approved
registrar (such as an ISP, etc.).  

Furtherfurthermore, it's not helping solve the problem to redirect
registrations to the NSI website, which is of course covered with NSI
advertising.

You already need a special license to access the root zone files, so your
"argument" there is bogus.



"Small minds can only contemplate small ideas".....Unknown

Dean Robb
Owner, PC-EASY 
(757) 495-EASY [3279]
On-site computer repair, upgrades and consultations
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