[gnso-vi-feb10] Statement of Harms from initial and later revisited Vertical Separation

[Volker Greimann <vgreimann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Many proponents of a strict restriction against VI have voiced the 
opinion that such a restriction is necessary for now, but can be 
released once the new gTLDs have been introduced (rounds two and three). 
I must voice a strong opposition to this view as it would place the 
parties currently restricted into an even worse competitive position.
Limiting the competition from registrars on the registry market 
completely, as is currently proposed by ICANN and RACK will prevent the 
registrar from getting a foot on the ground in this new market. If such 
policies are later revisited and removed, the registrar community will 
no longer be in a position to benefit from this review. Such a 
retroactive change of policy will only benefit those parties with market 
power, meaning the incumbent registrars and (gTLD) registry service 
providers while squeezing the registrar community in their own markets.
This is one of the reasons I have continued to state that effectively, 
there is only one round of gTLDs. A preliminary limitation, that is 
later removed when all parties realize it was not really necessary to 
implement VS, will do more harm to competition in the gTLD market than 
VI can ever do.
Volker Greimann