Wait List Service (WLS) approved by ICANN

[aww]

There is news trickling in that the Wait List Service (WLS) has been approved by ICANN at the current meeting in Rome by a 12 to 0 vote!

(It was scheduled to be negotiated today:
Saturday, 6 March 2004 Item 3: WLS Negotiations with VeriSign )

Verisign will have to give a three month notice to registrars before they impliment it.

This is going to change EVERYTHING and put backorder services out of business.

(little wonder why the SnapName creators got out of the business)

I'll post URLs with more info as they become available.

(by the way, there was supposedly a webcam of the meeting here but its not working, at least for me, right now)

ps. expect the lawsuits to start flying even more soon...

 

[aww]

Here is the first URL I can find mentioning this
(shows how blogs win over mainstream news!)

http://www.byte.org/blog/_archives/2004/3/6/25145.html

Its official, ICANN's board of directors has approved (12 in favor with 1 abstention) the results of the negotiations between the ICANN staff and Verisign and has authorized the General Counsel to seek the approval of the Department of Commerce to make the appropriate amendments to Verisign's registry agreement.

 

[aww]

Real-time text of the meeting is now available:
http://www.icann.org/meetings/rome/captioning-board-06mar04.htm

NOW, WITH THAT PREAMBLE, WHAT THE BOARD IS ASKED TO DECIDE TODAY IS WHETHER WE APPROVE THE RESULTS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN ICANN AND VERISIGN AS PRESENTED TO US BY GENERAL COUNSEL CONCERNING THIS WAIT-LISTING PROPOSAL.

AND IF WE APPROVE OF THOSE -- OF THE RESULTS OF THOSE NEGOTIATIONS, THAT WE WOULD AUTHORIZE THE PRESIDENT AND THE GENERAL COUNSEL TO SEEK DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE APPROVAL, AS REQUIRED UNDER OUR MOU, TO APPROVE AND TO AMEND THE VERISIGN REGISTRY AGREEMENTS PERMITTING THE OFFERING OF THE WAIT-LISTING SERVICE.

AND, FURTHER, IF YOU VOTE IN FAVOR OF THIS RESOLUTION, YOU WILL AUTHORIZE THE PRESIDENT TO ENTER INTO THE NECESSARY AND APPROPRIATE AMENDMENTS WITH VERISIGN IF AND WHEN APPROVED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.
AND THAT IS THE COMPLETE SUBSTANCE OF THE RESOLUTION.
GENERAL COUNSEL, I ASK WHETHER THIS SUMMARY IS SATISFACTORY FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE.

AND 12 FOR ALEJANDRO, AND ONE ABSTENTION FROM MIKE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
I'LL NEXT TIME COUNT MY HAND.
SO, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT THE NEXT STEP IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WAIT-LISTING SERVICE HAS BEEN APPROVED AND THAT THE STAFF WILL MOVE FORWARD WITH THOSE NEXT STEPS.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

From the icann.org site:

Resolved, [04.19] the Board approves the results of negotiations with VeriSign concerning its WLS proposal, authorizes the President and General Counsel to seek U.S. Department of Commerce approval to amend the VeriSign registry agreements to permit the offering of WLS, and authorizes the President to enter into the necessary and appropriate amendments with VeriSign if and when approved by the Department of Commerce.

 

[Riceman]

This will kill many of the backorder companies like namewinner, pool etc

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Originally posted by Riceman
This will kill many of the backorder companies like namewinner, pool etc

At least for a while, they can concentrate on the other TLD's. However, I forsee that the other registry operators will very shortly follow the VS model if they see more income in it (which they will).

 

[Riceman]

Most of the demand is in com net so it will hurt

 

[aww]

Oh it's going to be massively more income.
They legally just stole all the business from the backorder companies.

.info and .org will never match the demand for .com

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Originally posted by aww
Oh it's going to be massively more income.
They legally just stole all the business from the backorder companies.

What could save them is providing good data of what domains don't have a WLS that are nearing or past expiration. That is sellable information. Add immediate affiliate links or access scripts to the WLS page of their partner registries and you find another income source.

Sure makes things messy though. Especilly for current holders of snapnames snaps that will become useless unless moved to other TLD's.

 

[Ron Jackson]

I'm wondering about a required "90 day" notice to current registrars. I didn't see that anywhere in the resolution or actual verbatim minutes from the meeting. Where did that figure come from? And if its true does that clock start from now or from the time DOC gives approval (assuming they do)?

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Originally posted by Duke
I'm wondering about a required "90 day" notice to current registrars. I didn't see that anywhere in the resolution or actual verbatim minutes from the meeting. Where did that figure come from? And if its true does that clock start from now or from the time DOC gives approval (assuming they do)?

Duke,

Here are some conditions ICANN has made of VS in order for them to approve. This was submitted in January.

http://icann.org/correspondence/jeffrey-to-lewis-26jan04.pdf

Condition B specifies at least 30 days notice. I think they are just giving registrars more time to implement and test the software.

 

[dnbuydomain]

Re: Wait List Service (WLS) approved by ICANN

Resolved, [04.19] the Board approves the results of negotiations with VeriSign concerning its WLS proposal, authorizes the President and General Counsel to seek U.S. Department of Commerce approval to amend the VeriSign registry agreements to permit the offering of WLS, and authorizes the President to enter into the necessary and appropriate amendments with VeriSign if and when approved by the Department of Commerce.



High stakes in election year - The ICANN board, perhaps knowing its actions would be scrutinized more sharply in an election year. I don't think WLS will pass this year if ever.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Re: Re: Wait List Service (WLS) approved by ICANN

Originally posted by dnbuydomain
Resolved, [04.19] the Board approves the results of negotiations with VeriSign concerning its WLS proposal, authorizes the President and General Counsel to seek U.S. Department of Commerce approval to amend the VeriSign registry agreements to permit the offering of WLS, and authorizes the President to enter into the necessary and appropriate amendments with VeriSign if and when approved by the Department of Commerce.



High stakes in election year - The ICANN board, perhaps knowing its actions would be scrutinized more sharply in an election year. I don't think WLS will pass this year if ever.

The president in that quote is the president of ICANN, Paul Twomey. I don't think a decision by the commerce department would effect the US election much. Although, The commerce department probably does have much bigger decisions to make in an election year to get the economy growing.

I'd like to see the FTC get involved in the decision since this IS a regulated monopoly getting a windfall and potentially harming the smaller drop services.

 

[aww]

US government will probably rubberstamp this, I am sure they will approve it out of ignorance or some kind of kickback politics.

What no one is talking about is what prevents all the groups with the networks in place now, from focusing their efforts on grabbing every single WLS slot available the moment it becomes available? Smalltime domainers or individuals will not have a chance.

How does this improve the system at all? All this is doing is shifting the income as a monopoly to Verisign. I have no idea what they were thinking.

 

[mole]

Latest quack!

Special commemorative site for the ICANN approval of WLS:-

http://web2.ehost-services.com/wlsquack/Default.htm

The real URL i.e. http://www.wlsquack.com will probably resolve in the next 24hrs.

This site is sponsored by the Coalition of Internet Users In Support of Verisign :blink:

 

[aww]

Awh, duckies are cute (AF-LAC!)

But seriously, Verisign is going to make a fortune off this.
$40 with only three exchanges allowed.

I wonder if this slices 6 days or even 30 days off the deletion cycle?

 

[.edu]

The big guns are going to snap up all the good names on release date no matter when the domain is set to expire just to own the slot. $40 a year is nothing. I know I have my list ready. I know to some people the expiration date would not even be a factor, just securing the WLS is what they are after.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by .edu
The big guns are going to snap up all the good names on release date no matter when the domain is set to expire just to own the slot.

I don't disagree, edu. Some might do that. Even the small players, or should I say especially the small players. I'm a microscopic player but I will be targeting 3 years up the road.

Big guns shoot far and wide - but the permutations on names are extraordinarily big even if you have millions to burn. I think they will quickly learn the lesson of throwing good money after bad.

Disguntled "small" players will just sabotage those good slots at no cost since they know they can't get it. That I think is the biggest worry that the big boys have.

These are interesting times ahead, and I honestly don't think the big boys look forward to it.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Originally posted by mole

These are interesting times ahead, and I honestly don't think the big boys look forward to it.

I think it will be as frustrating as snapnames is now. You'll go the the WLS and find everything you want already has a subscription. Maybe even on the names you already own.

Independent brokers may come back into fashion to trump the WLS by making pre-expire offers from name-withheld buyers.

It would be interesting to know who successfully gets WLS subs on verisign.com, snapnames.com, nsi.com, etc. ...Yes, it would be a waste of money, but interesting when they get notification that someone else Wait listed their domains.

 

[dnbuydomain]

Originally posted by mole

These are interesting times ahead, and I honestly don't think the big boys look forward to it.

* Got a problem with DOC?
* Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now 2004. This year, however, is one of those years that will be excitingly different because we have now officially entered into an ELECTION YEAR!
* Let's look at what the US Congress have to offer first. 12 quacks - 0 chirps, WLS will die in the US Congress according to Vint Cerf.
*So where does that leave SnapNames? They will go bankrupt within 3 months.
* So what should we do you might ask? Order your backorder at http://www.namefox.com

All of these things will require our support and participation.

In the meantime enjoy 2004. There may be hard times ahead, but may our enemies be exposed and thwarted.

God Bless America, but we must do our own fighting

 

[armstrong]

from namefox.com:

Since beginning to register names for customers, we’ve discovered that registering names on a first come – first served basis is not optimal for our customers. Many customers request the same names, and each feels that they deserve the name once we register it. While we’ve been resistant to implementing a bidding type system, we see no better alternative.

Rather, bidding would be optimal for namefox's bank account. :lol: Is this your website, dnbuy?

 

[Riceman]

Originally posted by dnbuydomain
So what should we do you might ask? Order your backorder at http://www.namefox.com

Looks like shameless self promotion and SPAM
:p

 

[aww]

Probably a good idea to make sure your site is finished and trustworthy looking before shameless self-promotion. Starting yet another drop-catch service these days would be crazy even without WLS.

WLS will probably pass in congress because I can easily see the powers that be misguidingly spinning it as a way to control domainers. Many of the politicians have either experienced or heard whining about "cybersquatting" at this point and I am sure that will be used as psychological manipulation.

 

[.edu]

I also think that there is, or there will be a system of buying and selling WLS slots. "Pushing" or transferring WLS slots maybe? I know if somebody had a WLS secured on a name i wanted, id probably buy it.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I wonder if they will be transferrable?