Opposed to variably-priced domains

["Edward Huyer" <arcanum@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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.


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Edward Huyer
arcanum@xxxxxxxxxxxx