[AfrICANN-discuss] Open Letter to Ms Sophia Bekele regarding the .AFRICA application of DotConnectAfrica

[Dr Eberhard W Lisse]

Sophia,

This is the lamest "apology" I have ever read, if only, as others
have pointed out, being issued by a false online identity.

Let me explain why this is so serious, besides having admitted to
lying and having admitted and continuing to use a false online
identity.


You have applied to join one of the most exclusive group of
individuals on earth, the TLD managers, by way of submitting an
application for the .AFRICA TLD.

Currently there are less than 300 in this totally in-cohesive group,
where the vast majority, the 250+ ccTLD managers have bilateral
relationships with ICANN, if at all, for example when they predate
ICANN, like .NA which I have been managing since establishing it in
1991.

Some of those have exchange letters with ICANN voluntarily
describing their relationship, very few have entered into actual
agreements.

gTLD Managers have formal contractual relationship, which which
prescribes the expected behavior in detail.

Since 1994 there exists a document called RFC1591 which describes in
very loose terms expected behavior of TLD Managers.

For ease of reference it is located at
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1591.txt

It does apply to gTLD Managers as well as ccTLD Managers where it is
however much more closely adhered to (even voluntarily) because
there is just nothing else as far as guidelines go.

There are two sections of interest in the RFC that are of interest
in this:

Section 3.

[...]

	The major concern in selecting a designated manager for a
	domain is that it be able to carry out the necessary
	responsibilities, and have the ability to do a equitable,
	just, honest, and competent job.

[...]

Section 3.  4)

	Significantly interested parties in the domain should agree
	that the designated manager is the appropriate party.

	IANA tries to have any contending parties reach agreement
	among themselves, and generally takes no action to change
	things unless all the contending parties agree; only in
	cases where the designated manager has substantially
	mis-behaved would the IANA step in.

[...]

As you can see from these very general guidelines, these principles
are where the Applicants' Guidebook's roots come from.

Your conduct throughout the the application process shows that you
not only fail either of these standards, but in fact, you have
created the textbook case for "substantial misbehavior" by which
future applications will be measured.

Your application is very poor on the merits (outsourcing both
Registry and DNS operations and lacking the support required by the
Guidebook for starters).

Your conduct during the process (besides entertaining the world with
the 185000 Dollar typo, you have attacked virtually every single
individual opposing your position in a manner that defies
comprehension, accused a number of people of conflict of interest
without any basis, lied, and used a fake online identity since
2010, which is a criminal offense in the US, where you seem to be
based and/or conduct business from) can righteously be described as
reckless which as a director of a non-profit entity may expose you
to additional issues.


I just don't see how your application can sustain any concerted
objection.

But, I am sure you will remain as entertaining as ever.

el




On 2012-12-06 17:48 , Lerato wrote:
> If it is an apology that is needed, I apologize for the people on
> the email list.  I am sorry.  Let us put this behind us and move
> on.  There is no need to drag this any further.

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