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Go Daddy Requests Department of Commerce, ICANN Review VeriSign's Exclusive Registry Position
Company Pledges $100,000 to ICANN for Defense of VeriSign Lawsuit
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (March 3, 2004) – Go Daddy Software, Inc., has sent a letter to both the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) strongly urging both groups to undertake a formal review of VeriSign’s registry position.
The letter was issued Monday to Sen. John McCain and Sen. Fritz Hollings, chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation; Secretary Donald L. Evans of the U.S. Department of Commerce; and ICANN President Paul Twomey. Also in receipt of Go Daddy’s request were Sen. Conrad Burns, chairman of the Senate Communications Subcommittee; Mike Gallagher, NTIA assistant secretary-designate for Communications and Information; Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Rep. John Dingell, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee; and Rep. Ed Markey, ranking member of the House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee.
Citing VeriSign’s complaint filed against ICANN last week -- as well as other recent behavior deemed disturbing to the overall state of the industry -- Go Daddy has requested VeriSign’s role as the .com and .net top-level domain name registry be firmly re-examined. “VeriSign has shown that it is quite willing to place its own profitability before the well-being of the Internet,” said Bob Parsons, president and founder of Go Daddy. “It is for the benefit of the entire Internet community that such behavior be put to a stop.”
On February 26, VeriSign filed a lawsuit against ICANN, alleging the organization exceeded its authority and improperly attempted to regulate the company’s business in violation of ICANN’s charter and its agreements with VeriSign. However, according to Go Daddy’s letter, ICANN acted well within its established boundaries, as outlined in the 1999 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the DOC and ICANN. Specifying ICANN’s management functions, the MOU stipulates that any changes to VeriSign’s registry agreement must first be approved by ICANN, and subsequently by the DOC. VeriSign has violated this policy, the letter states, through the unauthorized introduction of new services.
Through the letter, Go Daddy also contends that VeriSign has failed to meet its fiduciary responsibilities by: Exploiting its position as the monopoly provider of the .com and .net registry as evidenced by VeriSign’s attempt to implement SiteFinder -- a program which directs all traffic resulting from mistyped or non-existent Internet addresses to a VeriSign paid advertising page. The SiteFinder service was taken live by VeriSign without regulatory approval and created disruption, havoc and resentment within the internet community. SiteFinder provided questionable end user benefits but promised to deliver huge profits to VeriSign. • Using its monopoly position to gain unfair trade and financial advantages, with its proposed WLS system (VeriSign’s program for back ordering domain names).
In this case, a monopoly (VeriSign) brazenly determined its own pricing and unbelievably, the price they chose was four times higher than that of regulated domain name prices. “An entire industry has grown up during the past few years around the backordering of domain names. The deal VeriSign wants to offer consumers is worse than the options they already have available from the existing market.” says Parsons. “To boot, if approved, VeriSign’s WLS system will destroy its competition in the backorder market.”
“VeriSign is a huge, multi-billion dollar corporation. ICANN is a small, non-profit organization,” said Parsons. “ICANN’s principle purpose is to regulate the equitable operation of the domain name system. VeriSign has sued ICANN for doing exactly what it was designed to do.”
To demonstrate its support of ICANN, Go Daddy has pledged $100,000 to ICANN for its defense of the VeriSign lawsuit. “The zealous defense of this lawsuit is critical to the stability of the Internet.” said Parsons. “VeriSign must not be left unchecked.” A petition is available at www.recallverisign.com for anyone interested in voicing their support of ICANN as well as their concerns about VeriSign. All comments will be forwarded to both the DOC and ICANN. ICANN accredited GoDaddy.com is the No. 1 registrar of net new domains and the No. 3 overall largest domain registrar in the world. Other companies within The Go Daddy Group, Inc., family include Starfield Technologies, Inc., developer of software systems and services; Wild West Domains, Inc., ICANN accredited reseller provider; and Domains By Proxy, a private registration service. GoDaddy.com, together with its sister companies, enables individuals and businesses to acquire, create and safeguard their unique identities and brands on the Internet.
- GoDaddy
