Man slated for CEO position at ICANN uses fake information for his web site’s whois record.
Rumor has it Rod Beckstrom, former cybersecurity director for the US Department of Homeland Security, will be the next ICANN CEO. Before he takes over the reigns, he really needs to clean up the whois information — especially since ICANN is working to clean up whois inaccuracies.
As pointed out by a commentor at TheDomains, Beckstrom’s personal web site, Beckstrom.com, has a questionable whois record:
Registrant:
Private
private
private, CA 11111
US
Domain Name: BECKSTROM.COM
Administrative Contact:
Private, Private [email protected]
Private
Private, CA 11111
US
111 111-1111 fax: (650) 618 0423
Something tells me that a call to that phone number will go unanswered. And unless he is behind the porn site at private.com, he likely won’t receive any emails at his address, either. Anyone know something about Private, California? Sounds like a great place.
Perhaps whois accuracy will take a back seat under his watch.
George Kirikos says
I warned the ICANN staff about this yesterday (the fake WHOIS), in the Adobe Connect chatroom. But, they didn’t do anything. Perhaps they’re not happy with the new selection, and by not telling him, seek to undermine him?
Nic says
Absolutely brilliant! Hilarious.
Reece Berg says
You’d think he would of at least checked the website he listed in the whois before choosing it… Who knows — maybe he’s a staunch supporter of .xxx LOL
Rod Beckstrom says
Thanks for the heads up. I believe it’s now fixed. – Rod
George Kirikos says
The WHOIS for RodBeckstrom.com was bogus too, for the Registrant part, Rod, so you might want to update that. I had mentioned it to ICANN staff multiple times in the Adobe chatroom, at least 24 hours before it hit the blogs (as a goodwill gesture, especially as we both have finance backgrounds), but it looks like you might some enemies within ICANN, as it doesn’t appear anyone told you (perhaps those staff favoured the internal candidates for CEO, instead of an outsider). Hopefully you get a chance to clean house, and make the changes that the community needs.
Rob Sequin says
Rod,
Great to see you are posting here.
Please don’t be a stranger.
Just wondering, are you a “domainer”? I see there are 552 other domains on the same IP address. Are those yours?
Good luck with the new job…assuming the news is correct.
Domain Investor says
Did they hire Beckstrom so they can use his influence in Washington to get away from U.S. govt. oversight authority?
I think so.
It is great that he has a strong business background. But, will he side with the corporate world (IP lawyers) against the domain industry.
It bothered me that the computerworld article stated that most domainers are cybersquatter. I wonder if Beckstrom feels this way?
Just because someone posted using the name Beckstrom. It does not mean he did. I’m sure he has a pr staff.
Considering my mistrust of Icann’s intentions, I will wait to hear if Beckstrom is “pro domaining” or “pro IP lawyers”.
George Kirikos says
True, Domain Investor. The truth is through actions, not just empty words. I’m willing to give the new guy a chance, but will be one of his harshest critics if I see something that harms domain registrants. He’s got an uphill battle from the start due to the incumbent staff he has to deal with, who have a long history of ignoring the public. If he wanted some instant kudos, he’d clear house of the worst of them, the most incompetent ones (e.g. the one’s who’ve left loopholes in contracts that have come back to haunt ICANN).
One thing I’d like to see is a CEO who is more engaged with the community, who participates on the mailing lists, etc., someone who is passionate and not just a 9-to-5er collecting a paycheck. Frankly, only 1 or 2 Board members ever even follows the public mailing lists or comments on issues or asks questions. In all the years Twomey was in charge, and despite my company’s high quality input on numerous issues (and others made substantial contributions too), not a single time have I ever received any email from him or talked to him on the phone, or seen him send any input to public mailing lists to get more information from others, etc.
I’m sure VeriSign has a hotline to his office, though!
George Kirikos says
Oh, and by the way, even though Vint Cerf and I would often disagree on issues when he was Chairman, at least Vint actually replied to emails and followed up on topics.
Domain Investor says
George, what I like about this guy is that he doesn’t need the money. Now, we have to determine if it is ego and power that drives him.
I wonder if he will hint if he is interested in moving Icann to Switzerland?
And, what is his position on the new tlds?
Johnny says
His position is like being the Chairman of the Fed…..except in this case it is Chariman of Domains.
What he does here in the coming months and years will have a dramatic impact on everyone on the Net. There is no choice but to keep a sharp eye on him….even if his intentions are good.
Steve says
Congratulations Rod,
Please ensure GENERIC domain name owners are protected from frivolous attempts to steal our domains.
Large penalties should be in place and enforced to deter these domain high-jacking attempts from ever happening.
As well please ensure that whois privacy is not detrimental to a registrants domain.
Keep renewal fees low, please.
Best of luck!
Johnny says
While you are at it Rod go fix WIPO and the NAF from allowing these bogus cases against generics from even being heard.
There should be another body that is separate from the NAF and WIPO that should decide if these cases should be sent on to WIPO or NAF.
WIPO and the NAF simply accept these bogus cases because get a fee each time….cha ching!
Philip Corwin says
I spoke twice, briefly, with Mr. Beckstrom at the Sydney ICANN meeting, once in the Hilton lobby and the second in the airport lounge awaiting our flight back to SFO. I mentioned this WHOIS matter the second time and he responded that he was aware of it and had just updated his WHOIS with correct information — that the domain was an old 1990s registration and that he had wanted to avoid spammers and others at the time. One would imagine that given this history he will be sensitive that registrants can have legitimate privacy concerns underlying their use of proxy services.
As I’m undergoing major jet lag today I’ll refrain from saying more about his tenure, challenges, and opportunities as the new CEO other than that he gave terrific, inspirational remarks in Sydney on Friday that reminded many of us of the idealism that inspired us to get involved with Internet maters, and that he seems very friendly and open — and the buzz at the meeting about him was very positive (other than among those who are reflexively suspicious of all things and beings from the USA).
Suresh Ramasubramanian says
This entire article and several comments in here remind me of the guy who was told his fly was open .. and responded with “oh yeah? but your shirt is torn, there’s a small cigarette burn on it”. Doesnt really change the fact about the open fly, really.
That’s even more amusingly evident in the comments about the lawsuit against moniker, about “the power of the domain name industry”
ps: Yes, I wanted a slightly more extreme case of that biblical quote about “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” from Matthew 7:3, and this sounds like it fits the bill.