Objection to Variable Domain Pricing Proposal and to Adoption Procedure

[Jeff Libert <libertdna@xxxxxxxxx>]

Please note my objections to both the proposed revised registry agreement 
between ICANN and PIR and to the process by which "tentative" agreement has 
been reached on the terms of the agreement.
   
  Variable domain pricing is a significant change in the finance of domain 
names and the financing of the registry and ICANN. Despite the significance of 
this change little - if any - effort has been made by ICANN and PIR to alert 
the public to the proposed change. Obviously this change will effect millions 
of people yet, if my observations are correct, public awareness of this change 
is the work of a single man who isn't even a member of ICANN. There is 
something woefully and shamefully wrong with that scenario. The contracts 
should not be approved and the public comment period should not be ended until 
the public is actually fully and fairly apprised of the proposal for change and 
the substance of the data upon which the change is being justified.
   
  In the present case and in the future ICANN and the registries should be 
required to circulate to major media outlets a plain language statement 
outllining the substance and the effect of proposed changes to the registry 
agreements that will effect domain registrants.
   
  Please note my personal objection to the proposal to employ variable pricing. 
   
  1. The system is not broken and does not need this "fix". 
   
  2. Variable pricing adds a new and needless element of uncertainty to 
individual and business finance. 
   
  3. The utter lack of guidance or guidelines concerning how variable pricing 
may be applied is a total failure by ICANN to address reall life concerns of 
millions of domain registrants. We now have pricing and finance in an 
information vacuum. We have no clue what we will be charged once the new rules 
are in effect since the new rules place no limits.
   
  4. The gTLDs are a monopoly. There IS only one .Org gTLD. Monopolies have 
historically been subject to regulation, including price controls. The language 
of the new agreements appears to luxuriate in the idea that there will be 
revenue sharing between ICANN and the registry. The new agreements provide for 
more frequent amendments to the amount or formula for payment to ICANN. The 
details of ICANN's financial interests are nicely covered in the various 
agreements. Nowhere - NOWHERE - have I been able to glean the language that 
protects consumer or business interests from unreasonable price increases under 
the new, variable pricing arrangement..
   
  5.  The verbiage of the agreements now provide for the registry recording 
domain traffic data for enumerated purposes including the sale of domain names 
by the registry. This portends pricing based upon traffic without specifying 
any limits on how traffic data may be applied to pricing. Does a popular 
website, as guaged by its traffic, pay more? What is the equity in that? How do 
you value the traffic to a popular hobby website versus an online wagering 
website or mortgage loan website? The freedom to price out of existance has 
been granted without limitation. 
   
  One must assume benevolence yet everything about the proposed changes and the 
process that has lead to their promulgation suggests that trust has not been 
earned.
   
  Jeffrey A. Libert, Esq.

                
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