.us domain request denied ????

[Kevin Darcy]

Danny Mayer wrote:

> At 10:58 PM 11/29/00 -0500, Kevin Darcy wrote:
> >
> >Well, if you want to go that far, there are other places on that same
> website which use
> >non-discretionary language: see the pages under http://www.nic.us/overview.
> >
>                 That merely  means that you can interpret it any way you want.  BTW, the
>   web pages are not a contract.  A contract is something requiring a physical
>   signature (or now in the US a digital signature within limits).
> Otherwise it's not
>   really a contract.

That argument cuts both ways: if the registration isn't a valid contract, then the City of
Naperville has no recourse if the naperville.il.us delegation gets yanked.

> >I'm no lawyer, but it seems like this non-discretionary language would
> trump any
> >discretionary language to be found in the same body of rules.
> >
>         This is an untrue statement.  It really means that any part of the
> conflicting
>   terms have to be interpreted, usually by a court.

Yes, and I was enunciating one of the rules that I believe a court would follow when
evaluating the competing claims.

> >In any case, that particular section is irrelevant to the dispute at hand.
> Even if the City
> >of Naperville is permitted to put its hosts directly under
> naperville.il.us (as opposed to
> >ci.naperville.il.us), that fact alone doesn't permit them to *exclude*
> others from putting
> >their hosts there.
> >
>                 That really depends on what else the contract states.

The contract -- if it is indeed a contract -- states that the registrant will follow RFC
1480 and the naming rules on the www.nic.us website. The website states quite unambiguously
states that businesses and individuals can register names under <locality>.<state>.us and
that if a city goverment wants to segregate its own hosts (as apparently the City of
Naperville wants to do), then they should use a "ci" subdomain for that purpose. By
forbidding an indvidual or business to register under naperville.il.us, the City is quite
plainly violating their agreement. The only question remains how enforceable that agreement
is.

>         There are really two cheap ways of resolving this:
>         1) Find out what the TLD has established as procedures for conflict
> resolution
>             and try and use them.

I don't see anything specifically related to "conflict resolution" on the website. However,
under the section about misrepresentation (http://www.nic.us/register/misrep.html), they do
announce a penalty for this particular form of rule-breaking:


> [...] that application may be revoked
>                            and if applicable, the sub-delegated domain name may be revoked. In addition, all
>                            other delegations made to the party submitting the false or misleading application and
>                            agreement may also be revoked.
>
I would think the same penalty would apply to other forms of rule-breaking.


>         2) Run for an elected city government post.  Once elected, you have some
> leverage
>             over the people who decided on this policy and get them to change it.

I would hope that aspirations to public office would be motivated by something nobler than
a desire to settle a domain name dispute.


- Kevin