auDA "grossly negligent" says domain registrar CEO

Stephen Withers
Monday, 20 April 2009 11:12

Business IT - Technology

Larry Bloch, CEO of domain registrar Netregistry (who served as an auDA director in 1999 and from 2003 to 2005) warned of "instability and chaos" as a result of the actions.

"Chris Disspain of auDA has acted as judge, jury and executioner by cancelling Bottle Domains' accreditation so suddenly, and this action is now proving to be grossly negligent," he said.

"This was always going to end up in the courts and Disspain was naïve to think Bottle Domains would allow its accreditation to be taken away without a fight. auDA should have ensured that its actions were proportionate and minimised negative impacts to domain name holders," Bloch added.

"auDA should have maintained Bottle Domains' accreditation whilst the matter was resolved between them."

At this stage, the dispute between auDA and Bottle is at the 'he said, she said' stage, and until the parties' positions are tested in court we are in no position to say which of the claims are accurate.

There is some history between Bloch and auDA.

For example, Bloch accused auDA of being "arbitrary" when it cancelled two domains registered by a Netregistry customer in 2006. Disspain said it had asked Netregistry to show how the customer was entitled to those names, and Bloch admitted that Netregistry chose not to respond as a protest.

And there's more - please read on.