On Fri, 22 Mar 2002 14:59:11 +1100, Peter Dean wrote:
> As one of the people involved I have executed a Registrar Agreement and
> would be delighted to execute the Provisional Code Of Conduct. However - in
> my view - the code is seriously flawed.
>
> The first sentence of clause 2 reads:
> "Registrars and resellers should refrain from registering domain names on
> their own behalf, or on behalf of any director, officer, employee or agent
> of such registrar or reseller. "

<snip>

> If I am to abide by the first sentence I shall not be able to register a
> domain on my own behalf... a restriction which is clearly  unintended but
> is nevertheless unambiguous. In honesty I cannot execute an agreement
> knowing that I will break it - at least two companies under my control will
> require additional domains in the coming weeks.
>
> I have taken this up in writing with auDA to try to get sentence 1 removed.

Hi Peter

I agree that a registrar or a reseller should be able to register domain names
under the circumstances described but think the sentence was designed to
prevent improper dealings of some sort.  "Frontrunning" <snipped> was one
such but there are others I could think of such as "warehousing".

The sentence really needs a little additional condition like the appending of
the word "improperly" or the phrase "in a manner which is not in the best
interests of registrants generally" or something along those lines.

I really don't think the objective of this restriction is to prevent a bona
fide
registrar like Melbourne IT from properly registering a domain name like
"melbourneit.com.au".

You could then get rid of the wishy-washy "refrain from" and turn it into
something more forceful like "should not".  I'd suggest:

"Registrars and resellers should not register domain names on their own
behalf, or on behalf of any director, officer, employee or agent of such
registrar or reseller for "frontrunning", "hoarding", "warehousing" or
other purpose which restricts a free and fair market in domain names or
is otherwise not in the best interests of registrants generally".

In fact, I'd go further and focus attention on the specific "harm" that is
sought to be redressed and then reword the sentence in a way that is
directed at that objective (whatever it is or might be).

It seems to me that the sentence simply needs a reality check :)

Regards
Patrick Corliss
_________________________________________________________
I'm on the Board of auDA (the .au country code) as well as TLDA (the Top
Level Domain Association).   Please note that anything I write is my own
personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of any body
with which I am associated.  Please also note IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer).