ICANN and VeriSign in bed together....................................................................................

[Ricarda Koppel <koppelricarda@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Why does VeriSign operate the no bid .com contract?

Why is this contract not being sent out for competitive bid?



More importantly, why does ICANN deserve any role in the future internet 
governance?  ICANN obviously fucked up when it granted VeriSign the presumptive 
right of renewal contract without any bidding process.

Competition and bidding are good business practices.   What business does not 
send out RFP's for competitive bids to keep vendors in check?



But wait….there is more to the story.



ICANN receives money – LOT’S of money from VeriSign each year.  VeriSign and 
ICANN are in bed together and this is exactly why ICANN is not acting in the 
public interest.  ICANN cares more about money than doing the “right” thing.

Currently, ICANN receives a payment of $0.25 per domain from each domain 
registration and renewal from VeriSign.  This payment is made directly from 
VeriSign to ICANN via monthly wire transfer.
With 127m domains, this is $31.750m dollars this year alone.


If ICANN is receiving millions and millions of dollars per month from ICANN, is 
it fair that they negotiate of behalf of the internet community?  Seems like a 
huge conflict of interest.




Furthermore, ICANN collects $0.18 for each registration and renewal from all 
ICANN accredited domain name registrars, paid directly from those registrars.  
With 127m domains, this is $22.86 million dollars this year alone.

This is in addition to fees it receives from registrars directly for being an 
ICANN registrar (approximately $7.6m)


Thus, ICANN collects $0.43 per domain name for each .com registration and 
renewal and collects money from the registrars directly.


This is EXACTLY why ICANN and VeriSign are rushing this early renewal.   This 
early renewal only benefits ICANN and Verisign (and fucks internet users 
worldwide.)



Question for ICANN----- at what point will you put the public interest and 
public trust before your own wallet?
And what do you plan to do with the hundreds of millions of dollars currently 
sitting in your bank accounts?