RE: [alac] Posting: VeriSign Settlement documents

["Roberto Gaetano" <alac_liaison@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bret,

> Third, we criticized Verisign's ability to raise prices 7% a year without 
> any checks on its monopoly power to do so. The response was to permit 
> Verisign to raise its prices up to 7% a year in four of six years for any 
> reason. In the other two years, it can raise prices if it can demonstrate 
> that its costs of providing secure and stable services are rising. 
> Personally, I think these changes don't really respond to our criticism. 
> Verisign's pricing is still not subject to market forces-- since it does 
> not face competitive renewal -- and the new price caps still allow price 
> increases in spite of the fact that the cost of delivering the services is 
> decreasing. My feeling is that ICANN did not address this concern.

There's one point that I find specifically problematic, and I raised also 
this issue to the Board.
To say that 2 times out of 6 they have to motivate the raise of price simply 
means to me that the other 4 times out of 6 the raise is unmotivated (and 
therefore should not be allowed in first place).

Or is the raise motivated economically by the fact that Verisign cannot pass 
down the line the ICANN fees, and recovers them through a raise? I think we 
(ALAC) should think and elaborate on this aspect, because it impacts the 
individual users' interests.

Regards,
Roberto GAETANO
ALAC
ICANN BoD Liaison

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