Registration Abuse Policies Working Group

RAP WG is the abbreviation for Registration Abuse Policies Working Group. The Generic Name Support Organization (GNSO), on 25 September 2008 adopted a motion requesting a report of issues based on the abuse provisions in the registry as well as the registrar agreements. The report highlighted the provisions involved in the registry-registrar agreements relevant to abuse and also contained several recommendations. Considering this, the GNSO Council in December 2008, agreed to Charter a Working Group to look into the open problems mentioned in the Report. It was due to this, that the RAP WG was chartered in February 2009.

Mission of the RAP WG

The main mission of the RAP WG is to define the domain name registration abuse independently from abuse that occurs from the use of a domain, when it is registered. The RAP WG also need to identify the several aspects of the registration abuse and needs to see to it that whether it is in the purview of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) mission and also to identify the various ICANN set policies that are binding on the operators of the gTLD and ICANN accredited registrars.

Objective

The main objective of the RAP WG is to gather facts, provide the necessary focus and define terms and definition of the various policy issues so that GNSO Council is able to make quality decisions on whether there is a need to initiate a Policy Development Process (PDP) on registration abuse.

Members

The RAP WG consists of interested stakeholders and Constituency representatives to work together comprehensively with other knowledgeable organizations and individuals in order to derive more wide definitions and research the various issues mentioned in the Registration Abuse Policies Issues Report and then subsequently take the necessary steps as mentioned in the Charter.

Functioning

The RAP WG functions on the basis of a consensus. This means that it considers the points of view of all until the chair of the group ascertains that the point of view of the all the members has been understood and covered. Consensus views are included in the names and affiliations in the agreement whereas the minority views are included in the discussion in the WG report.

RAP WG and ICANN

During the formation of the RAP WG, ICANN had mandated that the RAP WG will have to conduct an additional research and information to inculcate the practices of the related contracted parties and entities which include the registrants, abusers, service providers and law enforcement and so on. ICANN also stipulated that based on this research and information the WG will have to identify and recommend certain policy issues and processes.

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).

Policy Development Process