Verio asks ICANN to punish Register.com following spam ruling

Last month, a US federal judge ordered the internet hosting company Verio to stop accessing the customer database of Register.com and using that information for sending unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam), direct mail and telemarketing. Register.com argued that Verio was deceiving Register.com's customers with misleading marketing tactics and violating the terms of use for Register.com's WHOIS database.

Register.com sought a court order to halt Verio's activities, alleging that they constituted breach of contract, trespass to its computer database and violations under US legislation: the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Lanham Act. The Lanham Act covers liability for unfair competition and false designation of origin.

As an ICANN accredited registrar, Register.com is required to maintain a WHOIS database to give public access to information for the purposes of resolving domain name disputes. Verio used a program to search the WHOIS database for newly registered domain names and then add the details of each registrant to its marketing list. Register.com was alerted to Verio’s actions by complaints from customers who had not opted-in to receive solicitations when registering with Register.com.

Judge Jones ruled that by submitting a WHOIS inquiry, Verio assented to the terms of use required by Register.com. It then breached these terms of use.

Verio has now asked ICANN to withdraw the accreditation of ICANN on the grounds that Register.com allegedly violated its accreditation agreement with ICANN. Verio is also appealing the court’s ruling.

The full nature of the alleged violation by Register.com is unclear. An ICANN lawyer admitted to the court last month that, while Verio may have improperly accessed WHOIS data, it also appeared that Register.com may have breached its agreement with ICANN. The president of ICANN has indicated that the body is awaiting a response from Register.com before taking a decision on Verio’s request.

To date, ICANN has never removed a registrar’s accreditation.