Registration of opposition to "variable pricing" in .org

["Robert Aitchison" <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have heard recently that ICANN may be considering allowing registrars to 
charge variable registration & renewal fees for certain domains, including for 
.org domains. Reportedly under such a scheme domain fees would be priced 
according to the "value" of that domain name.

As an operator of several online communities operating under .org domains (one 
of which has been in service for more than 6 years) I would like to register my 
strong opposition to such a plan. I fear that such a plan, if enacted would 
cause fees to rise in most cases, and would serve to be a burden or barrier for 
not for profit organizations that .org was originally designed to serve for the 
benefit of scammers, wealthy companies and of course registrars.

For the communities I operate, they all are completely free nor are they ad 
supported, in fact 100% of the cost of operating these communities comes out my 
pocket.

Potentially in such a pricing scheme the cost to renew one of the domains could 
rise from $15 per year to thousands or more. This would force me to shut down 
these communities as well funded for-profit organizations registered the 
domains to prey upon or profit from the former users of these communities.

Robert Aitchison
robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxx