2011 Budget comments of Leap of Faith Financial Services Inc.

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Comments on 2011 Budget

Submitted By: George Kirikos
Company: Leap of Faith Financial Services Inc.
Company URL: http://www.leap.com/
Date: April 1, 2010

We oppose the 2011 Budget as posted.

1. The overall level of spending is far, far too high. Recall that ICANN used 
to do just fine with under $10 million/yr. ICANN needs to cut down on what it 
does, and focus on a narrow technical mission.

2. Staff compensation is entirely unrealistic. ICANN wrongly uses FOR-PROFIT 
companies as comparables, instead of NON-PROFITS (such as academia, hospitals, 
government agencies, etc.). Rod Beckstrom's own compensation is only part of 
the problem:

http://www.thedomains.com/2010/02/11/nonprofit-icann-releases-salaries-beckstrom-over-2-2-million-guaranteed-cfo-270k-lawyer-230k-plus-plus/

Many (most) other staffers are also overpaid.

3. Spending on travel and meetings is far too high. Meetings should be cut to 
at most 2 per year. ICANN should prepare for a "steady state" equilibrium where 
its job is "mostly done". 

4. The "for-profit" culture of ICANN twists and perverts its policymaking 
priorities. While .com and other gTLD prices have been *increasing* (along with 
ICANN salaries, revenues, spending, etc.), those in the real world (including 
those affected by the recession) see the exact opposite. Operations need to be 
downsized and rationalized.

5. Indeed, ICANN needs to explain why the cost of toll-free numbers in the USA 
(via the www.SMS800.com website, see "Tariff") is 10.54 CENTS per month, and 
has been going *down* (used to be 13.13 cents per month), whereas costs for 
domains are 500% higher and have been *increasing*. (e.g. 7% annual increases 
for VeriSign for .com, 10% increases for .net, .org, etc.).

That's a huge failure of ICANN. Yet, ICANN continues to award its employees 
bonuses for "success". The DOC and NTIA need to step in and make serious 
changes, to ensure that ICANN is acting in the public interest (for 
registrants), instead of the private interest of ICANN employees and their 
pals/lobbyists. 

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
http://www.leap.com/