Oppose Proposed Variable Domain Pricing Changes to .INFO registry agreement
To the Board of Directors of ICANN, I oppose the proposed changes to the .INFO registry agreement, especially "variable domain pricing" on the following grounds: First, there is no purpose for it to exist. The current system works find. If it is not broke, why do you need to fix it. In fact, the system "as is" has been is one of the reasons to the Internet's growth and health. Second, it would be be destructive to people who work hard and have success. The language of this proposal is not entirely clear, but it appears that owners of domains who've invested considerably in building businesses on them would be put in the position of having to renew their domains at unlimited prices. This approach is nothing more than someone's bad dream of punishing the successful domain owners and rewarding the unsuccessful. Your proposal creates the possibility of pricing many businesses out of existence. It would make more sense to keep this avenue open and even for all so that the Internet can continue to grow and be strong. Third, it would be a misuse of monopoly power gTLDs are, by definition, a monopoly and as such should be subject to regulation and price controls. A drastic change of this measure should not be allowed by someone who has this power. Last, the public deserves better notice and more time to post comments This proposal represents a RADICAL change to the traditional system domain owners as used to having. At a minimum, your proposal merits a much longer public comment period and a much greater effort on ICANN's part to educate users of the system as to the nature of the proposal. This would then give the user a better means by which to evaluate and make comments which pertain to their businesses. I hope you decide to take the common sense approach and end this proposal. Dave Cones |