Re: Questions

[Antony Van Couvering <avc@netnamesusa.com>]

At 09:18 PM 6/19/97 -0400, Scott Tadman wrote:
>>Currently the InterNIC does the Registry business quite well.  There have
>>been many complaints about its function as Registrar, however.
>
>I haven't had any serious problems with the registrar aspect of the InterNIC
>(which would be Network Solutions/NSI). A few years ago they were very slow,
>but now things are really surprisingly fast. A new registration can go up
>the next day if everything is in place on registration (DNS). Transfers are
>also quite speedy, provided you follow their instructions.
>
>Does anyone have any negative experiences they'd like to share? I really
don't
>have a good handle on what happens when the NIC goes bad.
>

I have found them as a company, especially recently, to be courteous and
efficient.  My main complaint is that things get lost more often than I'd
like.    I am happy to say that I haven't been involved in a property
dispute, though.

If you want some examples of truly nightmarish NICs around the world, I'll
send you some privately.

>>The idea of having multiple registrars is to have competition so that if a
>>customer was unhappy with one (because of price, bad service,
misinformation,
>>what have you), he or she could go to another without losing his or her
domain
>>name.
>
>Wouldn't having multiple registrars be akin to the DMV having multiple
>privately owned testing facilities? How would you regulate such a beast to
>ensure that only those who really pass are issued licenses?

Well, there is no effort to keep anyone out.  Should there be?  You don't
have to have an eye test to get a domain name.  There is no test at all,
except being able to provide contact information and functioning nameservers.

>
>CORE, when it inheirits the InterNIC database, will be sitting on $50M US
>in annual dues. They do not need any more registrations to remain profitable.
>They can reject applications which are contradictory to the Acceptable Use
>policy they set out.

Well, CORE is made up of registrars, and as you say below, it is in the
financial interest of the registrars to continue to register names.

>
>The registrars only make money when they register, so they must keep up
>the registration volume to remain profitable.  The $310K US they put up at
>the start will certainly be motive enough. They will be seeking to maximize
>the number of registrations they process, even if this involves lowering the
>baseline admission qualifications. Things will certainly get very ugly if
>there are 100 different registrars. CORE will not have the resources to
>keep tabs on all of them all of the time.

I don't think the registrars are going to have to create demand.  There is
every indication that they are going to have to work hard to meet demand.

What kind of admission qualifications were you thinking of?

CORE *is* the registrars.  It doesn't have a police force.  Everyone keeps
tabs on each other.  These people are in competition, after all.  If there
is egregious behavior, it will be pointed out to CORE by the registrar next
door.  CORE can vote to expel the bad registrar, if necessary.

Personally, I don't think that will be a common occurence.

Yours,

Antony Van Couvering
Netnames USA


>
>--
>== Scott Tadman <tadman@martinet.com> ======================================
>== Martinet Development Corp. ========== http://www.martinet.com/~tadman/ ==
>
>
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Antony Van Couvering | avc@netnamesusa.com
NETNAMES USA - International Domain Name Registry
430 West 14th St., Suite 401 New York, NY 10014 USA
Phone Toll-free 888-NETNAMES | Intl: +1 212 627-4599 
Fax +1 212 627-5744 | http://www.netnamesusa.com
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