Not necessarily opposed to variable pricing, but...

[jonah benton <jonah@xxxxxxxxx>]

To whom it may concern,

In consideration of the lifting of price controls:

I don't think that some change in pricing policy is a priori a bad idea.
The current state of domain overbuying and domain parking and TLD
consolidation is far from ideal. Variable pricing could help bring more
fluidity and flexibility the market.

The goal it seems is to encourage competition *between* TLDs, to allow
.biz to better compete with .com, for instance. I can see some benefits
in allowing registration prices to more closely reflect TLD value.

However, lifting controls altogether without another regulatory
apparatus in place beyond just the promise to "renew at old prices for
10 years" is a terrible idea.

As a resident (and renter) of New York City this is a familiar debate,
because it mirrors the rent control/rent stabiliization debate that has
dominated New York real estate for decades.

This is also familiar to those of us who attend sports or other live
performances for which there is a substantial legal resale or illicit
scalping ecology.

I think that a combination of controls would be required in place of the
monolithic price control presently in place, so that the usual suspects
of small business owners and non profits would be protected in what is
in many ways a monopoly supply.

Importantly I think a much more public and transparent process to
discuss those controls is needed. I note particularly this phrase in the
language of the announcement as a critique of the current process' opacity:

"Following extensive consideration and discussion"

Where exactly was this consideration and discussion held?

Why wasn't the design decisions and justifications behind proposing this
change made public?

In short, I don't oppose a change per se, but in the absence of evidence
of appropriate consideration of the ramifications of this change, I must
oppose this proposal.

Jonah Benton
Owner of several .org and .info domains + manager of hundreds of domains
for clients.