Court of public opinion replacing ICANN?

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:29:08 -0700

The global fight against spammy websites saw a bizarre episode unfold over the past week, involving two Internet hosting companies, an anti-spam and anti-phishing organization, and the ghost of ICANN hovering in the background. For those who missed it, KnujOn, a company whose product fights junk email, including spam and phishing, published a report alleging certain domain resellers and hosting providers were complicit with organizations using spam email to lure unsuspecting users into using illegal online pharmacies.

As with many issues pertaining to ICANN-accredited registrars, it's difficult trying to follow a paper trail to determine which companies actually own the problem domains, especially considering the complicated system of resellers. After Directi, one of the companies accused, responded to the media coverage of the KnujOn report with questions about journalistic integrity, both sides appear to have come to an agreement, releasing a joint statement on Sunday detailing the facts behind the story.

Even though the two sides have grudgingly come to an agreement, the root problem behind the tangled mess of parent companies, subsidiaries, software providers, and spam. In a nutshell, the system is broken. It's easy for email abusers to continue setting up domains, spam millions of people, and move on without suffering any serious consequences. No ones seems to be coming up with a way to effectively manage the ever-growing spam problem, and the resulting illegal activities that feed off the system.

On his personal blog on the Directi site, Bhavin Turakhia responded to KnujOn's charges against his company, and noted how quickly the story spread through the Internet. He also said, as others have on occasion, that stories often propagate from site to site without offering those accused of wrongdoing a chance to respond. Unfortunately, when it comes to situations like this one, where the governing body -- ICANN -- seems either unable or unwilling to deal with the situation, it's often the court of public opinion that reveals the extent of the problem and forces some participants to change their ways. The KnujOn-Directi-HostExploit situation only reinforces the need for more oversight of domain registration and hosting, stiff penalties that are actually enforced, and a less complicated hierarchy of accredited registrars and resellers.

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Court of public opinion replacing ICANN?

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:29:08 -0700

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

Analysis: ICANN opens a Digital Wild West
News: Black Hat: Typosquatting the presidential election web sites
News: ICANN: Yes, we're toothless