KnujOn experts accuse ICANN of bribery
Research organization specialistsKnujOn.comICANN was accused of accepting bribes and violating domain registrar rules. This led to a surge in spam, including advertising for pharmaceuticals.
KnujOn's report found that many domain registrars fail to comply with ICANN's rules. Furthermore, ICANN does not always adequately punish violators.
According to experts at KnujOn.com, registrars provide domains to spammers in exchange for bribes. These domain names are registered in large numbers. In turn, registrars and ICANN turn a blind eye to this criminal enterprise.
The authors of a KnujOn report identified pharmaceutical spammers and their Russian affiliate network, Glavmed (Glavmed.com), as the main criminal organization on the global internet. Notably, spam about pharmaceuticals accounts for a significant share of global spam.
In a study, KnujOn researchers accused one of the largest registrars, Enom (DemandMedia), of violating regulations established by the National Association of Pharmacists regarding pharmaceutical advertising. The study's authors note that Enom alone pays over half a million dollars annually to ICANN for the right to support resources like Glavmed. In total, more than 160 registrars are complicit in the criminal group's activities.
The study's authors released their report on the day of the 38th ICANN meeting in Brussels and hoped the issue would be raised during the summit.
Some time after the publication of the KnujOn report, the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC) initiated a large-scale campaign called "Runet Without Spam." RAECspokeProposing to the international community to join efforts in this area and hold a meeting of interested parties in the near future to share experiences and develop a plan for joint action to combat spam. RAEC is conducting a comprehensive study that will analyze the current situation and identify the participants in the spam mailing market. Based on the study's results, a set of measures aimed at combating spam on the RuNet will be presented. This is expected to include a package of proposals, recommendations, and regulations for both market participants and Internet users.
