Name and website of Provider: encirca.eth
Name of main point of contact: Tom Barrett (tom.encirca.eth)
What do you want to build on ENS?
Project Name: ENS Anti-Abuse Tools
Four years ago, Brantly.eth published “Why ENS Doesn’t Create More TLDs: Responsible Citizenship in the Global Namespace | by brantly.eth | Medium.”
This is worth a re-read.
I am requesting an ENS Stream to kick-start a project to further the aspirations for responsible citizenship discussed in this article. Namely, the creation of anti-abuse tools to combat deceptive, malicious, and illegal activity that harms the public and threatens to damage the public trust of web3 and ENS.
These anti-abuse mechanisms must be compatible with Article 1 of the ENS DAO Constitution that states, “Name ownership must not be infringed.” The end goal is not to take away anyone’s name, but rather to have tools to report issues, assess them, and if deemed abusive, alert the community about bad actors so the entire ecosystem can protect consumers from harm.
The biggest obstacle holding back mainstream ecosystem acceptance and adoption of Web3 names is the lack of safeguards for consumer safety. Without mechanisms to reliably address abusive behavior, the mainstream internet ecosystem will be reluctant to enable the public to have full access to web3. This issue impacts every web3 naming service. The first web3 ecosystem to successfully address abusive behavior will have a higher likelihood of mainstream acceptance before other similar services.
As the largest and most successful web3 naming service, this obviously impacts the future growth and sustainability of ENS.
Today, web3 operates without any guardrails to protect against consumer harm. A similar situation existed for DNS domains in the 1990’s. Gradually over the last 30 years the public has learned to trust the internet due in large part to the presence of anti-abuse mechanisms that protect consumers from harm. Fortunately, a lot of these efforts were led by the internet industry itself, which allowed the internet to flourish by avoiding stifling government regulation.
If ENS is to successfully grow to serve the next one billion users, it needs to be a responsible citizen and address abusive behavior using ENS names. Everyone in the ENS community has a role to play to ensure ENS is safe for the public. This can be done without compromising the ideals of its constitution. The entire ENS ecosystem must participate, from wallet providers, marketplaces and resolvers. The web2 ecosystem must be involved as well since ultimately the mainstream internet will decide whether ENS is safe for public use.
These tools represent an opportunity for ENS to set the industry standard for combating web3 naming abuse and ensuring the safety of the next generation of ENS users. The tools would be constructed to allow for adoption by the entire web3 ecosystem, demonstrating what responsible global citizenship looks like.
Deliverables
The main deliverables of the project will be open-source repositories for the developed tools and submitted complaints of alleged abusive behavior.
Proposed Milestones
- First Quarter
- Formation and announcement of project
- Solicit for collaborators
- High-level design of reporting tools
- Second Quarter
- Complete proof of concept for reporting alleged abusive behavior
- Commence organizing public discussions for ways to address complaints
- Third Quarter
- Launch open-source anti-abuse reporting tools
- Fourth Quarter
- Determine next steps for sustainability and funding of project
Experience working on ENS:
I am uniquely qualified to lead this effort. I’ve participated in internet governance for over 25 years and have been involved in developing DNS abuse tools in web2.
I have extensive relationships across the various stakeholders that need to be involved to ensure this project is viewed as credible and is successful. You can view my Linkedin profile here: Thomas Barrett | LinkedIn
EnCirca started working with ENS five years ago with the launch of the .LUXE ICANN TLD in 2018, which was one of the first ICANN TLDs to integrate with ENS. We continue to support ENS registrations as a custodial-registrar. We also support over 2,400 Handshake TLDs.
In 2022, we launched the Altroots search engine for web3 domains, covering .ETH, Handshake, Decentraweb and Unstoppable names.
Most recently, we launched w3.link, which bridges web2 domains with web3 for existing users and new-comers to web3 (specifically ENS) with utility such as decentralized link-in-bio and event badges. We are the only decentralized link-in-bio that is compatible with both web3 and web2 domains. W3.link includes several smart contracts as part of its infrastructure.
Trademark Experience
I am active in the International Trademark Association, the global apex organization for trademark lawyers. In the 1990’s, I led the development of SAEGIS, the premier trademark research platform.
Although not a lawyer, four years ago, I was asked to be the founding Chair of the 20-lawyer Blockchain Subcommittee. I have spent the last four years educating INTA members on the threats and opportunities presented by blockchain technologies.
Size of team and commitment
I expect a team of 4-5 people: 3 FTE developers and 1-2 FTE for project management and design, community outreach and policy development. We will rely heavily on volunteers interested in internet governance and public policy, both internal and external to the ENS community.
Conflict of interest statement
I, nor anyone in my business, are currently receiving any income from the ENS DAO or related entities.
10k Endorsement link:
This project must have community support to succeed. I am also looking for other developers and organizations interested in this project.
I am asking for endorsements for indications of support and interested collaborators at [ens-streams.eth]. (Snapshot)
The Admin updated this to a new link:
ENS Streams Nomination Proposal: Nominate encirca.eth to Service Provider Stream (snapshot.org)
Budget Requested: $100,000