[WSIS CS-Plenary] Big Fish gets caught in TLD Fraud by UnifiedRoot, NewRoot and UNIDT
Joe Baptista
baptista at cynikal.net
Wed Aug 2 14:33:36 BST 2006
The Public-Root experiment was once of the most successful in the
alternative / inclusive namespace DNS. The involvement of Jon maddog Hall
- a well respected programmer and pillar of the community:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_%22maddog%22_Hall
Clearly shows the basic ideas behind the publicroot were sound.
Unfortunately as I have warned in the past - the ideas and solutions were
sound - unfortunately the people were corrupt.
Jon recently responded to some of my concerns - and i am including his
response here as a historical note. I have given Mr. Hall some examples
of the corruption in reply to his note - but he has yet to respond back to
me. Silence in this case is not golden.
regards
joe
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 13:29:09 -0400
From: Jon maddog Hall <maddog at li.org>
To: baptista at cynikal.net
Cc: maddog at li.org, info at unifiedroot.com, info at inaic.com, xennt at cyberbunker.com,
boekhoudt.andre at kpmg.nl, peter3 at xs4all.nl, rene.rijntjes at tmf-group.com,
erik.seeboldt at unifiedroot.com, hjm.smit at chello.nl, tespenke.gerrit at kpmg.nl,
wouter at tweakers.net, pr at publicroot.org, martijnburger at dataweb.nl
Subject: Re: TLD Fraud by UnifiedRoot, NewRoot and UNIDT
Dear Joe,
Last year, I was approached by a friend of mine who I have known for many
years about working with a group to help "liberate the Internet". They
wanted me to help them with both solving some technical details and setting
up a committee of Internet leaders that could help improve the Internet and
come up with a set of policies, starting with a framework to ensure fair and
even access to TLDs. They had a business plan that made sense, and they
were willing to contribute a portion of the profits to "good works". The
people I met who were supporting this organization were seasoned
international business people, with clear track records of running existing,
successful companies.
I have been charted to go out to various experts and organizations and offer
them the opportunity to help shape these future policies and procedures in
an open and fair way. Since that time I have been helping UnifiedRoot build
their root server system, formulate T's and C's, formulate the beginnings of
a TLD policy, etc. I have watched as the have worked to embrace the issues
to put all these things together. In my experience, I have found the
management of UnifiedRoot to be very receptive to solid ideas and
criticisms.
I am aware that UnifiedRoot was created as a "fresh start", following what I
understand was a termination agreement between UNIDT and Public Root.
Whether that agreement was acceptable to you is not my issue. You are
welcome to challenge those arrangements in whatever way you think is
appropriate.
But your linkage to UnifiedRoot and accusations of some sort of fraud seems
to me to be sorely misplaced. Fraud is based on an "intent to deceive". I
have seen nothing in UnifiedRoot's behavior which makes me think that they
are intentionally deceiving anyone. They *are* intent on paving a new path,
albeit through fields traversed by various "alternative roots" in recent
years, none of which have been able to achieve their goals for one reason or
another.
The Whois information that you seem to have concerns about is a "work in
progress". For the last several months, UnifiedRoot has been analyzing the
various root organizations and TLDs out there in an effort to verify the
hodge podge of data, and to "unify" TLDs into a single system, and therefore
allow them to become operational and to benefit a broader market. UR has
developed a set of policies for what all that means, how they will treat
existing TLDs, etc.
Are UR's policies perfect? No, but we expect they will evolve over time,
with the help of the market, and the changes will happen in a transparent
and fair way. Is it risky? Yes, but all business is risky, and in this
case if the business plan works, the benefits will be far reaching. The
Terms and Conditions for people to buy a TLD actually spell out the issues
with the risk.
I am sorry that Public Root failed to deliver its goals. I am sorry that
you were not paid the money that you feel you were owed. I am sorry you
disagree with the way the parties handled matters. I was not privy to any
of that, and the disputes occurred mainly between and among people who I
have never met nor had any dealings with.
Although all that is over now, you obviously feel strongly about these
issues. I would encourage you to direct your talents and energies toward
the assisting those who are trying to do "the right thing". I consider
"doing the right thing" as:
o creating a strong root file system
o creating a business plan around TLDs that helps move the Internet forward
o making sure that people can access their TLDs
o doing this in an open and transparent way.
I believe that UnifiedRoot is trying to do these things. It is what I am trying
to do.
Finally, the companies that you mention, in particular KPMG and TMF, were
brought in by the management of UnifiedRoot to help make the organization
more accountable and more transparent, not less.
In particular, your allusion in letters that you have sent out that Linux
International is a part of some fraud is highly insulting, and I ask that
you stop it immediately. If I thought, even for a moment, that UnifiedRoot
was not trying its best to succeed at what many other organizations have
failed, I would not be involved.
It seems to me that UR has a compelling chance to achieve and further the
very objectives that you signed onto when you aligned with Public Root. And
if UnifiedRoot succeeds, it will create a much better Internet and fund
various projects that will benefit everyone.
Regards,
Jon "maddog" Hall
======================================================================================
Subject: TLD Fraud by UnifiedRoot, NewRoot and UNIDT
From: "Joe Baptista" <baptista at cynikal.net>
Date: Sat Jul 29 09:31:56 EDT 2006
To: maddog at li.org
Hello:
I am writing this email to you because you are either affliliated with
UNIDT or the UnifiedRoot and have in some way participated, supported or
covered up a fraud.
Please find attached a copy of an email sent to all TLD Holders, including
legacy TLD owners. If you are receiving this notice then I put you on
notice that it is my intention to name you in this fraud, including the
companies that have participated in this fraud.
If you in any way feel that my claims are in error then it would be
prudent that you speak up now. I will provide you with an advance copy of
the document in which you will be named. You may then have an opportunity
to respond prior to that document being distributed to the TLD holders and
stakeholders.
God bless
Joe Baptista
- NOTICE sent to UNIDT, NewRoot and UnifiedRoot TLD Holders -
You are receiving this email because you are a TLD Holder who purchased or
acquired your top-level domains from UnifiedRoot, UNIDT, NewRoot, Dogan
Online, or KOC Net. You are the victim of a fraud in the selling of these
top-level domains to you by the parties listed above. In addition SITA
(Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautique), Linux
International, the accountants KPMG and the TMF Group have participated in
this cover-up.
My name is Joe Baptista. I was hired this past October 2004 to represent
the people who created the inclusive namespace that UnfiedRoot claims to
represent. This claim is a lie. The inclusive namespace and the
PublicRoot community have no association whatsoever with the UnifiedRoot
and any claims the UnifiedRoot is inclusive or representative of these
communities is false.
As a member of the TapRoot committee of the TLDA ( Top Level Domain
Association http://www.tlda.net/taproot/index.html ) it was my job to
ensure that the processes through which you purchased your Top-Level
domains were honest, open and transparent. Unfortunately my investigation
resulted in the uncovering of financial fraud and the intentional theft of
top-level domains from their rightful owners with the full knowledge of
the parties responsible for sales, being UnifiedRoot, UNIDT and NewRoot.
The UnifiedRoot was created with the sole purpose and intention of
covering up this fraud. A number of articles on this were published in
Dutch and Turkish. The Dutch articles by Peter Olsthoorn are available
online at the following URLs:
http://www.netkwesties.nl/editie137/artikel2.html
http://www.netkwesties.nl/editie140/artikel1.html
http://www.netkwesties.nl/editie141/artikel3.html
http://www.netkwesties.nl/editie141/artikel4.html
The Turkish articles by H. Cihan Salim and are available online at the
following URL:
http://www.cihansalim.net/blog/200511.htm#prtr04
If you read Dutch or Turkish then please take the time to read these news
items. Also you may use the translation service Babelfist at Altavista to
translate the Dutch articles to English using the URL:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
I will communicate again this coming month with specific details on the
fraud committed against you and the community. I will also provide you
with some ideas on how you may be compensated, a means to make claims, and
protect your investments.
Your purchase of Top-Level Domains was a wise choice. It is regrettable
that some of the people involved are too corrupt to ensure your purchase
was sound.
IF YOU HAVE RECEIEVED THIS MESSAGE AND ARE NOT A TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN HOLDER /
OWNER / OR REGISTRANT, please take the time to reply back to me so I can
ensure the records are correct. The main issue here that affects you is a
fraudulent whois database. To assist you in determining if this message
applies to you, I have attached as APPENDIX A a list of your Top-Level
Domains. You can use the whois at UnifiedRoot to review them. That whois
is located at the following URL:
http://www.unifiedroot.com/registrars/whois
Kindest regards
Joe Baptista
+1 416 912 6551
--- APPENDIX A - LIST OF TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS associated with the email
address maddog at li.org
NOTICE: THIS LIST IS NOT PROVIDED TO YOU AS YOU ARE PARTICIPANTS IN
FRAUD AND DON'T DESERVE THE COMPUTER CYCLES IT TAKES TO PROCESS THIS
LISTING.
--
Jon "maddog" Hall
Executive Director Linux International(R)
email: maddog at li.org 80 Amherst St.
Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A.
WWW: http://www.li.org
Board Member: Uniforum Association
Board Member Emeritus: USENIX Association (2000-2006)
(R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries.
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to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus
Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis
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countries.
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