By Kieren McCarthy for The
Register.
This article has been reproduced with permission.
GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons has laid into .eu registry owner EURid
for approving hundreds of what he calls "phantom" registrars who
have walked away with the bulk of the 1.4m .eu domains registered
since the domain was opened to the public earlier this week.
In a blog post, Parsons accused EURid of "grand manipulation and
lax administration" for allowing hundreds of companies to be
registered with the same contact details. The way the process
worked, each registered company was effectively put in a line and
was entitled to make a bid for a single .eu domain. If the domain
was available, it was given to the company, if not, it wasn't. That
registrar then was sent to the back of the line to queue up
again.
However, out of the 1,570 accredited registrars, we have
calculated that at least 630 were not separate registrars. One
company in New York whose backers Parsons claims to
know are responsible for at least 350. This meant
effectively that one company had several hundred times its usual
opportunity to get hold of particular .eu domains.
Not only is this unfair, says Parsons, but it will most likely
lead to the end users paying much more for a .eu domain because the
company behind it will charge more and/or auction the domain. It
wasn't just the New York company either: there were 58 registrars
from Vancouver approved that were the same company; 57 from
Bellevue, Washingon; 32 from Portland, Oregon; 32 from Elsbethen in
Austria; 18 from Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and 12 from Stanberg
and Regensburg in Germany.
However, EURid has rejected the charge that these are no more
than phantom companies. "Each registrar had to show us proof of the
company registration," a EURid spokesman said. "They had to sign a
registrar agreement, follow the regulations, show proof of their
existence, and deposit 10,000 euros."
EURid had to "treat everyone on an equal basis", he claimed,
answering Parsons' suggestion that only established registrars
should have been entitled to register .eu domains, with the
assertion that the process needed competition.
Each shell registrar had provided bona fide documentation that
it was a separate company to EURid, and if they are in breach of
the signed registrar contract, they will have the domain names they
have registered put on hold, EURid confirmed. But this still leaves
EURid open to accusations that it failed to close a loophole that
has allowed unscrupulous companies to walk away with the lion's
share of Europe's own top level domain.
Despite the controversy, many observers remain amazed at .eu's
success. With 1.7m domains now registered in total, it has
established itself as the internet's seventh biggest registry in
just under a week.
© The Register
2006
