After seeing our coverage of ICANN's wrist slap of two domain registrars for violations of ICANN's policies requiring correct Whois information, Afilias drew our attention to its latest press release. Afilias, which operates the .info generic top-level domain (gTLD):
"announced a new registration policy that makes the nature of domain name abuses clear for registrants and registrars, and furthers the power of the registry to take quick and appropriate action regarding .INFO domains used for abusive behavior."
The policy, which goes into effect next month, details the requirements of registering a .info domain, as well as penalties that can be levied for abuse of the domains, including spam, phishing, pharming, malware distribution, and distribution of child pornography. As part of the announcement, Aflias is reserving the right to lock the domains of violators themselves, even during a dispute resolution period. In other words, Afilias is taking the power into its own hands that ICANN seems unwilling to wield.
The .info domain has had its share of problems with spammers, possibly due to its status as the first gTLD created since the original DNS development. By opening a new gTLD to the public after allowing trademark owners to claim their names, it became a fertile ground for spammers, phishers, and other abusers. If Afilias' new policies help to combat the abuse of .info, they should be applauded, but the policies are exactly what ICANN should be enforcing themselves, without relying on registry operators to do the work for it.
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