price increases unjustifiable

[Joop Teernstra <terastra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As a company that has built an on-line identity in the .com TLD, my 
investment is held hostage by this TLD (lock-in).
Such a situation demands responsible oversight by a publicly administered 
and neutral body that receives its funding from those it is accountable to, 
viz. the DoC and, ultimately, the Domain Name registrants.

Unfortunately ICANN receives the bulk of its funding from Verisign and is 
sensitive to legal and other pressure from Verisign.
The accountability to the DoC is tenuous and to the registrants  non-existent.
Registrant-representation on the Board has been eliminated.

The current proposed settlement of an trumped-up lawsuit by Verisign bears 
witness to this anomalous situation.

The right to increase monopoly prices in perpetuity without any reference 
to actual cost is an arbitrary gift by the oversight body, pure and simple. 
It is not "market forces".

I strongly request the Board not to allow a settlement to be signed 
containing any approvals to increase prices.


-joop-