ICANN Board Unanimously Approves Controversial Org/Info/Biz Contracts

[Duke]

Just got the note below from Phil Corwin, Legal Counsel for the Internet Commerce Association who is at the ICANN meeting in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Despite almost unanimous opposition the ICANN board has unanimously approved the new gTLD contracts for .org, .info and .biz:

"After one hour of discussion the ICANN Board approved this morning by a 13-0 unanimous vote of all participating members to approve the revised gTLD agreements as published in October. Key reasons for taking action at this this time was the failure of the GNSO Council to complete its PDP process on registry agreements and the recent approval of the .com agreement and the consequent desire for uniformity in these agreements. The need to provide incentives for registry investments in security was also a key factor cited by several Board members. The meeting is still ongoing. I will provide a much more detailed memo on the Board discussion this weekend after I return to DC." - Phil Corwin, ICA

One word comes to mind - disgraceful. While the registration price increases embodied in these agreements is bad news for everyone who owns a .org, .info or .biz domain name (as well as .com, .net and .org because as Phil noted, the Board intends to give all registries similar contracts), at least it ends ICANN's charade that they are committed to ground up consensus policy-making. The registries clearly have complete control of the Board and their wishes are being granted regardless of the expense to the rest of the Internet community.

[DomainNameBroker.com]

I've just spoke to Donald Trump and he went "ICANNNNNNNN,, you fired !!!"

[leo]

Sad and disgraceful is right.

[Ian]

After all that campaigning and rallying we never made an impact?! What a disgrace to the entire web community...seems like we will have to sign to the whims and tunes of ICANN until when only time knows:(

[Acro]

Incredible.

[Duke]

I am shocked by the 13-0 vote. There is not one single member on the ICANN board that is not in the pocket of the registries? Amazing.

[Acro]

Time to conduct meetings of our own to protect our interests and join forces against the ICANN. This decision has worldwide implications.

[David G]

The fee increases we will all see make holding a large portfolio with lots of approx renewal fee ppc income names a dubious investment. I have sharply reduced reg'ing new names and development work. These new contracts were one of the reasons I took into consideration.

[David G]

Clearly the Icann Board is manipulated and controled by the registries.

The reason nothing much can be done is both the govt and public is in the dark about the issues and very few comprehend the gravity of it all.

Even a few experienced domainers have demonstrated a lack of understanding in other threads here!

[amcdonald]

i am not shocked one bit. i even said it when people wanted us to send in emails. this descision was already made way before the vote.

[Acro]

One word comes to mind about ICANN: corrupt.

[David G]

i am not shocked one bit. i even said it when people wanted us to send in emails. this descision was already made way before the vote.

That is why the second time around there was far less public outcry about it. We all suspected the battle was lost. I sent my posting to the board but it was only with a weary voice and little energy to say much or post about it elsewhere after all the wasted time and energy earlier.

[maroulis]

I am shocked by the 13-0 vote. There is not one single member on the ICANN board that is not in the pocket of the registries? Amazing.

Do you have complete list of voting members? I'd be interested in doing a bit more research/expose on them...

[Acro]

The Disgraceful 13

[GUA]

I am confused so essentially our .info .biz and .org renewals will be more expensive because of this?

[mjreine]

Supposedly...as I understand it...now it will be like .tv domains have been. If you have a real good .tv domain say Comedy.TV they will evaluate each domain and assign a value on it... which could be worth 10x 100x who knows how much more than myFavoriteComedy.tv So your renewal fee is based on perceived value.

The problem with this is... say you are a small furniture store... and have furniture.org, .info etc... Renewals were around $7 for .org before Now they might be who knows how much... It will unfairly price the small owners out of their name they were lucky enough to find back in '96.

Just a fictional example but it will put a bite on the domain indusry for .info biz and org domains I believe.

Apparently the ICANN is... I CAN raise prices no matter who cares... The disgraceful 13...

[Duke]

I am confused so essentially our .info .biz and .org renewals will be more expensive because of this?

More background on the contracts here:

http://www.dnjournal.com/newsletters/2006/november.htm

[touchring]

Supposedly...as I understand it...now it will be like .tv domains have been. If you have a real good .tv domain say Comedy.TV they will evaluate each domain and assign a value on it... which could be worth 10x 100x who knows how much more than myFavoriteComedy.tv So your renewal fee is based on perceived value.

The problem with this is... say you are a small furniture store... and have furniture.org, .info etc... Renewals were around $7 for .org before Now they might be who knows how much... It will unfairly price the small owners out of their name they were lucky enough to find back in '96.

Just a fictional example but it will put a bite on the domain indusry for .info biz and org domains I believe.

Apparently the ICANN is... I CAN raise prices no matter who cares... The disgraceful 13...

From what i understand, there is a difference between a premium .TV and a regular .TV name??

[StockDoctor]

We need the dept of commerce's intervention. After all they are above ICANNT and supposedly represent the public (us). It's amazing that ICANNT does NOT allow a constituency that represents the product consumers / the public, even though we are the end source of all their funding. We are continually taxed without representation. Is there a way to get the news of our being infuriated with ICANN across to the press? Duke, can you do a strongly worded press release?

ICANNT structure

http://www.icann.org/general/org-chart-12jan04.gif

--------------------
ICANNT Board of Directors

http://www.icann.org/general/board.html

--------------------
ICANNT Bylaws

http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm

especially interesting from their "core values":

6. Introducing and promoting competition in the registration of domain names where practicable and beneficial in the public interest.

[Duke]

I've decided to accept an invitation to join the board of directors of the newly formed Internet Commerce Association - http://www.internetcommerceassociation.com. I think it is the only organization out there that has a chance to raise the money needed to stand up to ICANN and get this story about the rape of registrants (including millions of small businesses) out to the U.S. government and the wider public. They already have a very capable Washington DC based lobbyist in attorney Phil Corwin (who represented ICA at the ICANN meeting in Brazil) and the founding board members (including iREIT, Oversee.net, sedo, Name Administration and WADND) have all put in very large contributions for the initial funding of this non-profit trade organization. They will also be hiring a full-time Executive Director and I would expect they will roll out a broad based membership program in 2007. Without such an organization in place to defend the rights of domain owners, everything we have worked so hard to attain over the past decade will be stolen from us.