> the fact that resellers have no status with auDA and cannot be 
> legally acting on behalf of a registrant.

This doesn't make any sense to me. I can enter a contract with anyone I like and authorise that person to act on my behalf in any matter I choose. There are some exceptions (I can't marry by proxy) and some responsibilities can't be delegated (I can't delegate my responsibilities as director of a company). I can also authorise my agents to use their own judgement in the matter at hand, or limit that exercise of judgement in whatever ways I choose.

When I read the "change of registrar of record" policy (transfers), it explicitly refers to resellers acting on behalf of registrants (see sections 4.2 and 7, for example). Section 7 even talks about bulk transfers by resellers from one registrar to another.

As long as registrants are informed about the registrar that was used on their behalf (so that they could in theory act independently of the reseller), there doesn't seem to me to be a problem. There is a direct association between the registrar and the registrant, but the reseller manages that association.

What am I missing? It all seems a storm in a teacup...

Regards, K.

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Karl Auer (karl.auer§id.ethz.ch)             Geschaeft/work +41-1-6327531
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