Hello,
There were MORE stolen domains than just panix.com.
Domain names are being ripped off all the time. There is nothing new in this and all the rules in the world aren't going to change the fact that bad registrars, negligent registrants, ne'er-do-wells and other shady characters are going to cause domain names to change hands outside the process.
This is called fraud, aka crime.
I have to disagree strongly with Ross regarding the state of the transfer system. The old system was premised on the idea that there were rogue registrars gaming the system, to block transfers. The new system DID NOT ELIMINATE ROGUE REGISTRARS (or Registrars with inept systems that hackers can abuse)! I hate to say "I told you so", but the new system's weakness is that it ASSUMES the gaining registrar has proper authentication of the transfer. What are the penalties for registrars that don't properly do it? A Canadian registrant is supposed to "trust" a registrar equally to do authentication, even if they've never done business with it before, and are in India, Korea, etc??
That's a pretty revisionist view of history George. I'm not going to rehash ancient history except to say that the old system was a complete and dismal failure. The registries refused to enforce the shreds of policy that did exist and ICANN had no enforcement or oversight capability at all. It was the wild west. The new policy changes this and allows for substantial room to fix problems and gives ICANN the capability it needs to make sure that the trains are running on time, registrars aren't gaming the system and that domain names that are stolen, eventually end up in the right hands.
-- Regards,
-rwr
"In the modern world the intelligence of public opinion is the one indispensable condition for social progress."
- Charles W. Eliot (1834 - 1926)
