ICANN/Verisign Settlement IS Extortion

["dp" <dp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ICANN...


Please consider that I view the pending settlement as unjustified, and 
that I also consider this act as unprecedented Extortion of the 
Internet community.

In case I am not clear, here is the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary 
definition of Extortion...

Extortion:
 1 : the act or practice of extorting especially money or other 
property; especially : the offense committed by an official engaging 
in such practice.

ICANN was supposed to be setup to look-out for Internet users as well 
as businesses.  It was meant to protect us, not Extort its users and 
online businesses.

Verisign has failed so miserably at providing me technical support in 
the past that I had absolutely no choice but to become a reselling 
registrar myself, just so that I could take control and FINALLY 
protect my own intellectual properties (not simply as Domain Names, 
but as Trademarks and brands).

Verisign had clearly undermined the integrity and service of the 
Domain Name System.  I applauded your final decision in shutting down 
Verisign's blatant attempt to commercialize the internet for its own 
selfish gain, even though your decisiveness was excessively slow.

ICANN has displayed an unwavering ability to suck-up to Verisign and 
ICANN accredited registrars through the guise of diplomacy. This has 
hampered ICANN's ability to govern the Domain Name System as any sort 
of authority.

All of my complaints and issues with ICANN accredited registrars 
remain unresolved to this day.  What authority are you supposed to 
have in the first place?  ICANN is not a governing body, it is a 
diplomatic nightmare of weak beaurocracy that does nothing and shows 
no backbone.

Even your own website is an nightmare in the study of usability and 
fails to assist individuals trying to research issues with the DNS.

As an example, I have tried to look into becoming an accredited 
registrar myself many times.  But your website is extremely unfriendly 
at best.  

Once, a very long time ago, I was able to find that ICANN 
accreditation required a million dollar deposit?  How is this to 
enable and encourage the growth of Internet business?  It has only 
hampered me from day one and all successive attempts at trying to find 
any updated material on this subject.

In my view, you are doing the Internet community on a whole more harm 
than good.

And now you want to spoon feed Verisign a new and unjustly exorbitant 
settlement agreement that gives it carte blanche to do as it wants 
with nearly no guidelines when it was Verisign that undermined your 
authority and corrupted the Internet in the first place? When Verisign 
cannot support its own customer base? When Verisign only looks to 
making a profit in the first place? And when Verisign should literally 
be stripped of its position for negligence in its authority as the 
registry for the .com and .net TLDs?

I can't believe this.  I am glad that I have FINALLY found this 
address to post my concerns and criticsm, but you have obviously made 
finding this address difficult and kept this settlement news as far 
out of the news as possible. And it is also clear that with the speed 
at which you are moving towards settlement on this issue you plainly 
appear to have much to hide.  And I personally believe that what you 
are hiding, aside from your lack of a spine to stand for what is right 
against Verisign, is your new found corruption and greed.

This settlement is absolutely ridiculous.  You are rewarding Verisign 
for being a corporate giant and bully conglomerate.  This action is 
absolutely unprecedented and unequaled, even by Microsoft and its slap-
on-the-wrist from the USA and other goverment courts.

Where is justice?

It appears that ICANN is settling this suit under the new contract 
terms simply because of its own greed. Under the terms of the new 
contract, ICANN will double the fees it charges for every registered 
domain from 25 cents USD to 50 cents USD per year of registration.

One thing is clear, ICANN is no longer protecting the integrity of the 
DNS, nor looking out for the interests of the little guy. ICANN is 
unquestionably thumbing its nose at under developed nations and 
economies which look to the Internet as a way out of financial 
diffulties and/or to encourage economic growth, since such entities 
and individuals would unquestionably be hardest hit by the conditions 
and provisions under this unfair and exorbitant settlement.

ICANN is only showing us that it is corrupt.  ICANN has jumped into 
bed with conglomerate giant Verisign to generate billions of extra 
revenue for Verisign and itself at the expense of domain registrars, 
web hosts, web design studios and all domain name registrants.

Am I angry?  You better believe it.  ICANN is doing me and mine more 
harm and no good.

I don't believe that this, my view and response to the ICANN/Verisign 
settlement will be posted on the ICANN website.  Thusly, I am also 
posting a copy of this email to settlement-comments@xxxxxxxxx in my 
forum at http://Domainers.Name/Forums/viewtopic.php?p=201#201


Please get real.
Please use some integrity.
Please reconsider this settlement.
Please get a backbone.
Please do what is right.
Please do not allow such extortion.
Please throw out this settlement.

Please start acting in the interest of the global Internet community.


I thank you for listening to me address my concerns as well as the 
concerns of my customers and clientele.

-Doug Peters


Doug Peters, Symbiotic Design Creative Director
605.331.0808 (Local)            
http://www.SymbioticDesign.com  Web, Graphic & Logo Design, Host, SEO
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