Opposed to variably-priced domains
Domain names priced in whatever way the registering agency sees fit is, put simply, a terrible idea. It undermines the idea that no individual or organization should have a greater voice or greater right to hawk their wares than another. That idea has been a core tenent of the Internet community practically from its inception. How, you may ask, does it undermine such a principle? Because it allows the registration agencies to enforce obscurity. The agencies are free to sell appealing domains at exorbidant prices beyond the ability of individuals and small organizations to afford. Worse, it allows them to raise the price of the domain after it becomes popular or well-known. If the organization cannot afford the fee, they are essentially doomed, relegated to http://www.example.com/pages/~user/ obscurity. Yet worse, it opens the door to situations where the registration agency "auctions off" a domain that "coincidentally" belongs to a comporation's critic or an unrelated individual or organization with a similar name. The corporation can easily "out-bid" the individual or smaller organization, effectively circumventing the whole arbitration and legal contests relating to cyber-squatting. Variably-priced domains are detrimental to the Internet as a whole, as it has always been notable for the ease of participation for all those who use it. Reducing that will provide only a short-term benefit for a few powerful organizations, but will ultimately more the Internet towards being a stagnant mass media dominated by a few powerful players. ----- Edward Huyer arcanum@xxxxxxxxxxxx |