A funny thing happened on the way to the Internet…
So it turns out that the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) did not cancel the YouthForVolpe.ca domain name. This does not surprise me, because CIRA is extremely careful about legal issues, and is very guarded about their reputation. As country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) operators go, CIRA is globally recognized as a leader, and rightfully so.
They even went to the extraordinary step, in this narrow incident, of issuing a press release to defend themselves. Given their history, and my personal experience with the organization, I have absolutely no reason to doubt their complete innocence in this matter.
According to sources quoted by Stephen Taylor, the registrar believed the content of the website could be deemed defamatory, discriminatory or harmful, and cancelled the registration.
I’m going to guess, but cannot say with any certainty or insider knowledge, that somebody made a threatening phone call to the registrar in question. Be it somebody from the Joe Volpe campaign or a third-party trying to “help” his campaign is anyone’s guess. I’m also going to guess that the registrar considered their options. Here they were:
- Cancel an improperly registered domain name registration for a joke website that was probably put together by a couple of witty college students, or
- Potentially put up with a nuisance lawsuit from a deep-pocketed individual/group that was looking for the instant gratification that an action of canceling a domain name would have upon the website.
As the owner of a company that is also a registrar certified by CIRA, I do sympathize with the registrar’s situation.
We have had similar threatening phone calls in the past, from all sorts of people who want to include us in their personal legal frustrations. We try to explain our role to them, and they don’t get it, or don’t care. Sometimes they are lawyers, and they, understandably, just want their problem ‘fixed’!
It would be a nuisance lawsuit because the content of websites is not a concern of registrars. Think of the domain registry like a land registry: the registry records who owns what; the registrar (or registrars, in the case of domain names) amends the registry as needed; courts, legal agreements (and sometimes binding arbitration) indicate when transfers of land shall occur. This is exactly how the domain name registry works.
My lawyer cannot march into Toronto City Hall and demand that they change the registry to show that I own the Skydome. Only a legal agreement of sale, or a court ruling could change this. Lawyers, of all people, should understand this concept.
Remember this the next time a political opponent registers your candidate’s domain name before you, and you get all mad about it. Here’s a good idea for your EDA: register all your nominees’ domain names before they are nominated.
Back to the registrar of YouthForVolpe.ca… As registrars, we can indeed “cancel an active domain name within the first 7 days of it having been activated by CIRA.” We have used this function in the past, though rarely. The most common reason for using it is people registering a misspelling of their intended domain name, or a clear case of credit card fraud. In either of these cases, this is a good feature to have. In the YouthForVolpe.ca case, based on the information I have learned about it, I can say that we almost certainly would not have made the same decision.
Our consistent answer on the matter of domain name registration is that it is a matter between the registrant and the person disputing the registrant. If the offended party does not like that answer (which they usually do not), then we suggest they contact CIRA directly. Presumably they do, and presumably CIRA tells them the exact same thing.
Their option is to take the registrant to court, or in the case of ownership disputes, a less expensive arbitration process is available.
I’m happy to report that, to date, after 6 years as CIRA Certified Registrars, we haven’t been troubled by anyone desperate enough to incorrectly name us in their nuisance legal actions.
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