[LINK] Internet Registrars, a disgraceful bunch

[Roger Clarke]

At 22:09 -0700 7/9/08, David Goldstein wrote:
>There are expectations and there is reality... but getting 
>hyper-excited about the original report was wrong since it was 
>inaccurate, going by the correction in The Register...

I don't often chime in on David's side;  but I have to this time.

An over-excited initial report has been shown to have gone too far.

It seems pretty likely that there's some substance in the original 
report, but all of it needs to be regarded cautiously until and 
unless each of the claims is reviewed.

As regards the cavalier attitude of (some) registrars, there are two 
aspects that need to be remembered:

(1)  the concept of 'business ethics' is an oxymoron.  Speaking as a 
Director and Chair, a company is *not* required to act in a manner 
aligned with personal standards, social mores or anything else.  It 
is required to act within the law, but subject to that to maximise 
benefits to the company.  A donation to a worthy cause, and any other 
behaviour that fails to maximise short-term profit, has to be 
justified by some other aspect of 'value to the company', such as 
long-term sustainability, the avoidance of regulation, the 
maintenance of customer loyalty, or the maintenance of employee 
morale;

(2)  law and regulatory enforcement are substantially absent from the 
registrar space, because:
-   the business is new (at least from the perspective of law-makers 
and their government advisors, who work at glacial pace)
-   the business is transnational
-   the vogue in government is to let business do what it wants to 
do, and maintain the myth that self-regulation can work, rather than 
imposing formal regulation or even co-regulation - especially when 
it's awkward to formulate clear laws that will be readily interpreted 
and enforced


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW