FC: Karl Auerbach, Brock Meeks respond to ICANN-Verisign deal

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

[Karl is an ICANN board member. --Declan]

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Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 18:59:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: Karl Auerbach <karl@CaveBear.com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject: Re: FC: More on ICANN, Verisign, and control of .com master list


The existing contract gives Verisign a right through 2007.  Under the
existing contract there is no presumptive right for Verisign to hold .com
beyond 2007 (although one would expect that they would strongly try to
continue to hang onto .com)

The new terms give Verisign a very strong contractually based presumptive
right to renew, repeatedly, beyond 2007 until ... until ... forever.

Under the "plan A" contract Versign had a rather unclear right to .com
after 2007.  But under plan B Versign will have to fall pretty flat on its
face in order to not get .com after 2007.

Overall that's quite an expansion to what was originally a five year
cost+fee contract that was to have expired in 1998.  The cumulative worth
of the contractual gifts made to NSI/Verisign over the years by NSF, NTIA,
and ICANN is striking.

The NSI/Verisign negotiators are clearly masters of the art.  We ought to
ask them to negotiate for the US in the Middle East.  If they have the
same degree of success that they've had when facing NSF/NTIA/ICANN we can
expect Iran and Iraq to not only seek immediate peaceful relations with
the west but also to petition for US Statehood.

		--karl--

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From: "Meeks, Brock (MSNBCi)" <Brock.Meeks@MSNBC.COM>
To: "'declan@well.com'" <declan@well.com>, politech@politechbot.com
Subject: RE: More on ICANN, Verisign, and control of .com master list
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 23:11:42 -0700

As usual, Crocker takes revisionist history and raises it to an art form.

VeriSign most certainly was faced with the prospect of having to divest
itself of either its wholesale (registry) or retail (registrar) businesses
under a contract previously negotiated with the Department of Commerce.  The
registry is the "dot com master list" if you will.

About a year ago ICANN and VeriSign began holding secret negotiations bent
on changing the tenor and structure of the original DoC contract.

Out of that came "Option A" and "Option B" both of which had VeriSign
maintaining control of the dot-com registry but having to release control of
dot-org and possibly dot-net as well.

In the revised historical perspective of Crocker, "there never was any
doubt" is therefore true, but to believe that is to breath rather fetid air
and travel in an oh-so-small circle of friends.

--Brock

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Reply-To: <russ@consumer.net>
From: "Russ Smith" <russ@consumer.net>
To: <declan@well.com>
Subject: RE: More on ICANN, Verisign, and control of .com master list
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 21:43:22 -0400


The issue is when it will expire and be up for a competitive bid.  Every
time this competition comes up the registry claims it will cause an Internet
instability if another company came in and tried to run it.


http://www.icann.org/nsi/nsi-registry-agreement-04nov99.htm#23

Gives them until Nov 2003 (4 years from Nov 99)

==

http://www.icann.org/melbourne/info-verisign-revisions.htm

FAQ #2: Under the current registry agreement (Plan A), how long does
VeriSign have the right to operate the .com, .net, and .org registries and
what are the procedures to select the company that will operate these
registries after that term is completed?


Under the existing agreement, VeriSign is the registry operator for all
three registries (.com/.net/.org) until at least November 2003. If it sells
its registrar business by 10 May 2001 (as it is actively pursuing) the term
for all three registries is automatically extended to November 2007.

==


Russ Smith
http://TheNic.com


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Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2001 21:46:22 -0500
From: Michael Sondow <msondow@iciiu.org>
To: declan@well.com
CC: politech@politechbot.com
Subject: Re: FC: ICANN: Verisign gets to keep control of .com master list

Browbeaten? They're paying ICANN's bills.

 > From: Rodney Joffe <rjoffe@centergate.com>
 > Organization: CenterGate Research Group, LLC.
 > To: declan@well.com

 > Unusually, I am speechless... but not surprised. It looks like Verisign
 > has browbeaten ICANN into tilting the playing field in their direction.

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