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Comment Open:

21 March 2012

Comment Close:

20 April 2012

Close Time (UTC):

23:59 UTC

Reply Open:

21 April 2012

Reply Close:

11 May 2012

Close Time (UTC):

23:59 UTC

Brief Overview

Originating Organization:

GNSO Council

Categories/Tags:

Top-Level Domains

Purpose (Brief):

On 6 March 2012, the Fake Renewal Notices Drafting Team submitted its report

 [PDF, 559 KB] to the

Current Status:

The GNSO Council is requesting input on the Fake Renewal Notices Report.

Next Steps:

The GNSO Council will review the comments received and consider next steps to address the issue of fake renewal notices.

Staff Contact:

Marika Konings

Email:

policy.staff@icann.org

Detailed Information

Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

Fake renewal notices are misleading correspondence sent to registrants from an individual or organization claiming to be or to represent the current registrar. These are sent for a variety of deceptive purposes. The desired action as a result of the deceptive notification is:* Pay an unnecessary fee (fraud)

• Get a registrant to switch registrars unnecessarily ("slamming", or illegitimate market-based switching)
• Reveal credentials or provide authorization codes to facilitate theft of the domainThe Registration Abuse Policies Working Group discussed this type of abuse in its Final Report

   [PDF, 1.73 MB] and recommended that 'the 

  GNSO initiate a Policy Development Process by requesting an Issues Report to further investigate this abuse'. In order to help inform its deliberations on this recommendation, the GNSO Council requested that a small group of volunteers prepare a request for information concerning Fake Renewal Notices for the Registrar Stakeholder Group. The Fake Renewal Notices Drafting Team (DT) which was formed subsequently has submitted its report

   [PDF, 559 KB] to the 

  GNSO Council in which it presents the results of the survey it conducted as well as offering the following options for possible next steps:
• Add a section to the RAA that addresses Business Practices
• Add the issue to the current or one of the upcoming Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) PDPs 
• Add this issue to the upcoming PDP on the RAA
• Refer the issue to the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) to encourage better education and awareness of this type of abuse amongst the end-user community
• Raise this issue with the Federal Trace Commission (FTC) in the United States to see if the registrar is in compliance with relevant law
• Initiate a Policy Development Process on Fake Renewal Notices
• Do not proceed with any action at this timeAs the report was developed by a small group of volunteers, the Fake Renewal Notices DT recommended that the GNSOCouncil put this report out for public comment in order to obtain community input on the findings and potential next steps. Following the presentation of the report, the GNSO Council decided to follow the DT's recommendation and put the report

  [PDF, 559 KB] out for community input.

  
  

Section II: Background

Prior to acting on the recommendation of the Registration Abuse Policies (RAP) Working Group to request an Issue Report on fake renewal notices, the GNSO Council decided it would be desirable to gather further information on this issue and it therefore resolved: 'The GNSO Council hereby requests that the Registrar Stakeholder Group provide further information and data on the nature and scope of the issue of Fake Renewal Notices to help inform the GNSO Council's and its RAPWG deliberations no whether an Issue Report should be requested. A small group of volunteers consisting of registrar representatives and others interested (including former RAP WG members) should be formed to prepare such a request, work with the Registrar Stakeholder Group to obtain the information requested and report back to the GNSO Council accordingly'.

Section III: Document and Resource Links

Fake Renewal Notices Report

 [PDF, 559 KB]

Section IV: Additional Information

None