[Infowarrior] - Registry / Registrar: Does Separation matter?

[Richard Forno]

(the perennial question we faced 10 years ago still exists....-rick)


www.internetnews.com/government/article.php/3843406
Registry / Registrar: Does Separation matter?

By Sean Michael Kerner
October 12, 2009

At the dawn of the Internet age the domain registry and registrar were  
one and the same. The registry managed the domain space and also sold  
domains as a registrar to anyone that wanted one. It's a practice that  
disappeared in 1998 with the creation of ICANN and the break-up of the  
integrated Network Solutions Registry/Registrar.

While domain registrars and registries have now been separated for a  
decade, with a new generation of Top Level Domains (TLDs) soon to be  
approved, integrated registries may soon return. Opponents of the  
integrated registry registrar argue that they restrict competition,  
while advocates argue that it will increase competition.

"Network Solutions is supportive of the current ICANN requirements for  
existing TLDs which requires that registrars and registries maintain  
their legal separation," Jon Nevett, senior vice president of Policy &  
Ethics for Network Solutions told InternetNews.com. "With respect to  
new TLDs, Network Solutions has advocated a middle-ground" position  
between those who argue that registrars may not sell new TLDs of  
affiliated registries and those who argue that the separation  
requirement be eliminated altogether."

In Network Solutions middle-ground position, registrars would be  
permitted to sell new TLDs of affiliated registries up to a certain  
amount of perhaps up to 100,000. Nevett added that once the allocated  
number of names has been registered, the affiliated registrar would  
not be able to accept new registrations.

"This proposal would generate more competition by allowing smaller  
registries to get distribution through an affiliated registrar and  
would maintain certain safeguards," Nevett said.

Opponents of the integrated registry/registrar approach include domain  
infrastructure vendor Afilias. Afilias does the technical management  
for multiple domains including .org, .info and .mobi. While Afilias  
could financially benefit from being both the registry and the  
registrar for a TLD, Brian Cute, VP Discovery Services at Afilias told  
InternetNews.com, the company is not in favor of such a setup.

 From Afilias' point of view, enabling a registry to act as a  
registrar and then sell their own domains is the equivalent of selling  
direct to the public. The current system doesn't allow for that and  
enforces a separation between the registry and registrars.

An argument against registry/registrar
According to Cute, there were solid reasons back in 1998 why ICANN  
divided up the Network Solutions monopoly and in his view the same  
reasons exist today.

"The registry gets access to a lot of data about domain names, who is  
looking them up, traffic and other unique and commercially sensitive  
data that a registrar could use to its advantage," Cute said. "So  
ICANN originally figured they should prohibit the registry to selling  
its own TLD because if it did it could discriminate against other  
registrars and use that data to identify high value domains and raise  
prices, and that's not the competitive effect that ICANN was looking  
for."

An ICANN spokesperson was not available for comment by press time.

For its part, Network Solutions doesn't see the same issues about  
changing cross ownership rules increasing bad acts by registries.

"While that may be a concern, recent history does not prove the  
concern," Nevett said. "For example, Hostway Corporation operates  
the .PRO registry and also operates a leading .PRO registrar. Even  
with these affiliations, there have never been any allegations of  
domain tasting, front running, or other improper conduct.

"Similar situations exist for .CAT, .MUSEUM, .COOP, and .ME.  
Certainly, if abusive practices were to occur, this would be an issue  
for ICANN to address from a compliance standpoint."

ICANN is currently scheduled to provide an update on its next round of  
TLDs at its meeting in Seoul, Korea at the end of October. The meeting  
will be the first major ICANN event since the new Affirmation deal  
with the US government that has ICANN operating without direct US  
oversight.

For opponents of the integrated registrar registries the meeting will  
be key to get their point across. At the core, they argue it's about  
maintaining the checks and balances that have helped the Internet for  
the last ten years.

"What we're saying is that by taking away a long standing policy of  
separation and allowing a vertically integrated registrar to sell  
domains, what you are doing is you are removing the checks and  
balances that have been in place to mitigate and minimize the abuses  
that already take place," Alexa Raad CEO of the .org registry told  
InternetNews.com.

"Without the checks and balances it will be hard to discern the abuse  
because you don't have anything to check the data against."