The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act specifies:
an Internet site is `dedicated to infringing activities’ if such site . . . has no demonstrable, commercially significant purpose or use other than
profitting from copyright violation. It will force Registrars to shut down illegal websites. Why are certain factions threatened? Get over yourselves! Self regulation by ICANN, Verisign, and the major Registrars clearly doesn’t work. Government HAS to step in! 
Update 09-30-2010: Senators Propose Changes to Website Takedown Bill – by Grant Ross, IDG News, courtesy of PCWorld.com
Senators Propose Changes to Website Takedown Bill
Speaking on Go Daddy’s tepid response to a series of malware attacks on its servers, Jason Remillard makes an interesting point on his blog: Could BP learn from our industry?
Perhaps what is really needed here is some good solid case law to remind vendors and service providers of their responsibilities.
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Verisign promotes ConsoliDate, its Expiration Synchronization service to Registrars to upsell to Registrants – STAY AWAY!!!
It may sound tempting, but having all the expiration dates synchronized to one will make it easier for Registrars to target your entire portfolio at once!
I’m keeping my domain names with all their year-round original expiration dates!
ICANN Bulk Transfer
I respond to your October 31, 2009, letter to the President, with a copy to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. You suggest that ICANN’s Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition rule, which establishes procedures governing the transfer of a portion of domain names from one registrar to another through an acquisition, may violate the Federal antitrust laws. ICANN’s bulk transfer rule does not appear to violate the antitrust laws. 
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Dear Ms. Timmons,
Thank you for your letter to Rod Beckstrom on 12 December 2009, and for your comment submitted on the Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition (BTAPPA) amendment in dot-COM & dot-NET.
The BTAPPA service was first proposed by Neustar in 2006, and approved by the ICANN Board in November 2006 for introduction in dot-BIZ. To the best of our knowledge, no issues have been raised about the operation of the BTAPPA service, including any concerns related to acquisition-related transfers from losing registrars to gaining registrars as part of the service or on the 15-day notice period to registrants. more…
The question is very simple: which party does ICANN commit to promoting competition: Registrars (eNom, Go Daddy, Moniker), which would benefit Registrants, or Registrants (us), which would benefit Registrars?
ICANN's Core Values (http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm): include:
"6. Introducing and promoting competition in the registration of domain names where practicable and beneficial in the public interest."
Could ICANN be any more vague . . . more...
Patrick Jones, Registry Liaison Manager at ICANN, consolidated and summarized comments on the BTAPPA amendment:
Summary & Analysis of BTAPPA Comments
It is unanimous that a 15-day notice of pending transfer is too short:
The timeline for registrants [us] to respond was too short . . . the timeline should at a minimum match with the grace period for a domain name renewal.
- George Smith
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Posted at NoDaddy November 16th
This all goes into effect tomorrow:
May I suggest: everybody take screen shots of your homepages and whosis info! This is what you do:
- Roll mouse over the time so the date pops up; leave it.
- Press Shift / PrintScreen (upper right hand).
- Open Paint from Strart/Programs/Accessories
- Paste, or Ctrl V, into the new file; save as a jpeg.
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