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That said, we were among those who lamented the severe restrictions placed on some stakeholder parties from the negotiating sessions and even at this stage, we remain convinced it was unwise to exclude the community from even an active ‘watching brief’ of the negotiations especially for a contract intended to be an embodiment of convey consensus policies and around which so many stakeholder interests converge.

We give our full support for the Consensus Policies and Temporary Policies Specification. In the matter of the so-called ‘right to unilaterally amend the RAA’, we believe the updated construct per Clause 6.5 incorporates additional safeguards and attracts our endorsement. Nevertheless, some have argued the intent in this clause undermines the consensus policymaking policy making that has produced this RAA. We disagree and take a different and more benign view of the role reserved for ICANN asthe as the public benefit corporation. For the first time at last, the topics and areas pertinent to the RAA that are within the purview of consensus policy making are unambiguously defined. The contract is intended, among other things, to protect and defend the global public interest. The language of Clause 1.4.4 acknowledges said Consensus Policies, or the procedures derived from them, shall not “Modify ICANN’s obligations to not apply standards, policies, procedures or practices arbitrarily, unjustifiably, or inequitably”. The converse is equally true: the language also embraces the notion that there are matters outside of the consensus policy domain for which the Board has a duty of care and is empowered to act in protecting the global public interest.

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The ALAC therefore supports the WHOIS Accuracy Program Specification (the Specification) improvements in and the set of requirements imposed on Registrars for the completeness and accuracy of Whois Data.We fully endorse the requirement compelling Registrars to suspend the registration of the Registered Name Holder in circumstances where the Whois contact information cannot be verified. The ALAC is concerned, however, that the “account holder’ is relieved of a similar requirement if there is no affirmative response from the ‘account holder'. The ALAC believes that a similar enforcement regime should be instituted and advise suspension of the registration in this case as well.

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We also note that verification requirements in the Specification include contact information relating to the phone, email and postal address. However, the Whois requirements relating to phone and email contact information are only for the Registered Name Holder’s admin and technical support contacts. (Clauses 3.3.1.7-3.3.1.8) The only contact details required of the ‘Registered Name Holder’ is for a postal address.  The ALAC's position is this too should be harmonized in the specification.

The ALAC is on record supporting a regulated privacy/proxy service for domain name registration. And while the Specification is short on details, we welcome a the declaration of the intent to formally develop and extend rules governing the provisioning of proxy/privacy services. The ALAC notes and gives full endorsement to this new development that covenants Registrars to account for Resellers under this contract. 

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We applaud the contractual obligation imposed on Registrars to support future development in Whois specifications, inclusive of an ability to develop centralized Whois service across all Registrars. We believe such a development it is the global public interest and a one feature of the comprehensive approach required to retain confidence in the domain name system to which we are committed.

On balance, the ALAC accepts this 2013 RAA as marked improvement on the 2009 Agreement and the ALAC looks forward to continued participation in the evolution of a contract consistent with our commitment to be the a watchdog of the global public interest. We also strongly believe that all stakeholders, including the ALAC community, should have at least a 'watching brief' on any further development of the RAA and the accompanying documents.

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