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Re: .africa gTLD
- Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 21:34:08 +0000
- From: "Tierno S. Bah" <tsbah@afriq.net>
- Subject: Re: .africa gTLD
Martin J. Duerst wrote:
> I sincerely hope that the maintainer, signing as "Fred Gregoire",
> is not Swiss, and that he doesn't operate from Switzerland.
No, he is not Swiss and he doesn't seem to operate from Switzerland.
as suggested by the four Whois Query Results below.
Whois Query Results for
- .bi (Burundi)
- .cg (Congo)
- .rw (Rwanda)
- .zr (Zaire) country TLDs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burundi Republic of top-level domain BI4-DOM
IBPT - Connectivite au reseau Internet
Avenue des Etats-Unis - B.P. 4732
Bujumbura,
BI
Domain Name: BI
Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Kayijuka, Fabien FK258 admin@IBPT.BI
+ 257 222 711
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Gregoire, Fred FG301 frg@IZPT.ZR
+ 243 12 24 222 (FAX) + 243 12 92 144
Record last updated on 21-Oct-96.
Record created on 21-Oct-96.
Domain servers in listed order:
DNS.IZPT.ZR 193.210.151.74
SUNIC.SUNET.SE 192.36.125.2 192.36.148.18
PRINCETON.EDU 128.112.128.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congo top-level domain CG6-DOM
ICPT - Connectivite au reseau Internet
Avenue Amilcar Cabral
Brazzaville,
CG
Domain Name: CG
Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Nsinga, Andre AN576 admin@ICPT.CG
+ 242 83 20 40
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Gregoire, Fred FG301 frg@IZPT.ZR
+ 243 12 24 222 (FAX) + 243 12 92 144
Record last updated on 14-Jan-97.
Record created on 14-Jan-97.
Domain servers in listed order:
DNS.IZPT.ZR 193.210.151.74
SUNIC.SUNET.SE 192.36.125.2 192.36.148.18
PRINCETON.EDU 128.112.128.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rwanda Republic of top-level domain RW6-DOM
IRPT - Connectivite au reseau Internet
Boulevard de la Revolution - B.P. 378
Kigali,
RW
Domain Name: RW
Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Karekezi, Aimable AK1112 admin@IRPT.RW
+ 250 72 090 (FAX) + 250 72 490
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Gregoire, Fred FG301 frg@IZPT.ZR
+ 243 12 24 222 (FAX) + 243 12 92 144
Record last updated on 21-Oct-96.
Record created on 21-Oct-96.
Domain servers in listed order:
DNS.IZPT.ZR 193.210.151.74
SUNIC.SUNET.SE 192.36.125.2 192.36.148.18
PRINCETON.EDU 128.112.128.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zaire Republic of top-level domain ZR2-DOM
IZPT - Connectivite au reseau Internet
Boulevard du Trente Juin - B.P. 8854
Kinshasa 1
ZR
Domain Name: ZR
Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Zola, Matenda MZ298 admin@IZPT.ZR
+ 243 12 24 222 (FAX) + 243 12 92 144
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Gregoire, Fred FG301 frg@IZPT.ZR
+ 243 12 24 222 (FAX) + 243 12 92 144
Record last updated on 03-Oct-96.
Record created on 26-Sep-96.
Domain servers in listed order:
DNS.IZPT.ZR 193.210.151.74
SUNIC.SUNET.SE 192.36.125.2 192.36.148.18
PRINCETON.EDU 128.112.128.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments: All four TLDs have
- the same primary and secondary servers.
- the same Technical Contact, Zone Contact.
- the registrant's are practically the same and the subheading is
identical in all four cases.
The http://www.izpt.zr/ home page publishes the email address of Fred
Gregoire the Technical Contact, not that of the Administrative Contact,
Billing Contact!!!
Fred Gregoie is thus "the person who has aquired the 'rw' TLD" and whom
Mark J. Elkins <mje@mje99.posix.co.za> has asked to "return it to
Rwanda". Now it looks like restitution TLD name would be due other
countries as well.
This situation is strange and leads to several questions:
- Are the governments of these four countries aware of what's going on?
- Do they approve it?
- Are the secondary servers administrators in Sweden and at Princeton
(NJ) aware of the astronomical fees charged for this name registration
service.
- Should the Internet community, through IANA, ISOC, IAHC, investigate
this situation?
Denis Bucher wrote
> Just look at the PRICES at http://www.izpt.zr/, and you'll understand !!!
Martin J. Duerst wrote
> This is a major rip-off. 550 Swiss Francs for initial registration,
> and 350 Swiss Francs for one-year renewal. For those who don't know
> what a Swiss Franc is worth, currently that makes ~400$ for registration,
> and 260$ for renewal. There is also a "name reservation" fee, not much
> lower, just for reserving a domain name.
This is particular true for countries where per capita income is less
than $400/yr. DNS registration becomes de facto a elite service out of
reach for entrepreneurs, researchers, faculty, etc. and all other
potential and legitimate users. By the same token, the Internet falls
victim of the same paradox as telephony, which is less expensive in the
wealthy United States than in poor Africa.