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New registrar contract could be approved next week

Kevin Murphy, June 21, 2013, 12:24:06 (UTC), Domain Registrars

ICANN’s board of directors is set to vote next week on the 2013 Registrar Accreditation agreement, but we hear some last-minute objections have emerged from registrars.
The new RAA has been about two years in the making. It will make registrars verify email addresses and do some rudimentary mailing address validation when new domains are registered.
It will also set in motion a process for ICANN oversight of proxy/privacy services and some aspects of the reseller business. In order to sell domain names in new gTLDs, registrars will have to sign up to the 2013 RAA.
ICANN has put approval of the contract on its board’s June 27 agenda.
But I gather that some registrars are unhappy about some last-minute changes ICANN has made to the draft deal.
For one, some linguistic tweaks to the text have given registrars an “advisory” role in seeking out technical ways to do the aforementioned address validation, which has caused some concern that ICANN may try to mandate expensive commercial solutions without their approval.
There also appears to be some concern that the new contract now requires registrars to make sure their resellers follow the same rules on proxy/privacy services, which wasn’t in previous drafts.

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Comments (6)

  1. Andrew says:

    Wait, you mean ICANN is injecting some last minute changes into a contract that was negotiated over two years? I don’t believe it.

    • Benny says:

      Oh you better do…. 🙁
      All the talk about change, transparency and good faith… that is exactly what it is.. TALK and nothing else…

  2. theo says:

    Wonder why they have those comment periods anyways.

  3. zack says:

    I hear ICANN is going to take the .BS ccTLD from the Bahamas and start posting all of its contracts, policies, papers, etc on here for review and comment.

  4. John Berryhill says:

    “some last-minute objections have emerged from registrars”
    …to the last minute injections which emerged in the draft ICANN staff sent to the board, and which were the subject of zero discussion with the RC negotiating team.
    Whatever one’s view of the changes, or the document itself, the quote above mischaracterizes the situation.

    • Kevin Murphy says:

      Indeed it does, which is why the article goes on to talk about the “last-minute changes ICANN has made”.

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