ICANN confirms: Tiered (.tv style) pricing would not be forbidden in .biz/info/org

[Beachie]

On par with the best Greek tragedies :-D

[Acro]

Let's hope that "Deus ex machina" solves this - or else it will take an Alexander to cut this Gordian knot :-D

[beatz]

George maybe you should send the slashdot version ( #12 ) to some newspapers, magazines, portals etc that are catering to the more average small-midsize business owner - i think especially the "Imagine,.." part is written very well towards that kind of audience.

It could help to start the *public* outcry , which i think is important to have this stopped.

[bdss]

George thanks for the reply.

[NameYourself]

George, you have a good eye and I'm glad you brought this to everyone's attention. Question, if they decide to raise the price of say fun.org to $100,000/yr, which of these would be the case:

A) .ORG Registry itself chooses that price and makes the 100,000.
B) All the different registrars can compete with one another and charge anything they want, 25, 1000, or even 100,000.
C) A and B

Basically is it .ORG itself who would exploit it, the registrars, or both. If it's just the registrars, then I would think free market would see each of them competing and prices staying about the same as they are now. Also, the way these contracts are written, does ICANN stand to see any additional revenues or percentages of such increases?

[GeorgeK]

NameYourself: The answer is (A), the registry.

There are provisions in the contract where ICANN sees their fees revenues from the registry operator increase based on the average cost of domains.

[Acro]

I am confident that should something like that happen, many .ORG holders would rather sue and spend severalfold money in a lawsuit than pay the supposed registry fees. ICANN opened itself a can of worms and it would receive a can of whoopass as payment.

[Jonathan]

I am confident that should something like that happen, many .ORG holders would rather sue and spend severalfold money in a lawsuit than pay the supposed registry fees. ICANN opened itself a can of worms and it would receive a can of whoopass as payment.

Absolutely.

[NameYourself]

The answer is (A), the registry.

There are provisions in the contract where ICANN sees their fees revenues from the registry operator increase based on the average cost of domains.

This is unbelievably corrupt and ICANN actually has an incentive, a monetary interest in approving it as they share in that corruption. A good example of this would be if the government suddenly decided they didn't like where you were living, so they just raise the price of your taxes until your paying more each year in house taxes than your home is even worth, hence forcing you to move out to a new location.

Mark my words. If ICANN approves this, and tiered price discrimination for TLDs does become a reality, I will personally see to it that it is the last decision ICANN ever makes as a legitimate, organized, governing body of the internet.

George - How about submitting that article to CNN and others, with the focus being on ICANN, the primary problem in these situations, and some of their past decisions. They need to go. If you want help writing more articles, I'd be glad to help.

[carlton]

The tone in the ICANN forum is excellent as many good minds have come together in opposition to this mess. A lone voice (from Verisign) wants to divert the real issue at stake by making vague references to the stability of the internet (He supports the abusive agreement!). Here's his post ...

Chuck Gomes
VeriSign Information Services ICANN forum post

He is also featured at Wikipedia as "actively involved in the development and implementation of policies" (at ICANN). Most noticeably absent from his post is any mention of the danger to thousands of .biz, .info, and .org registrants and the potential for wrecking years of personal endeavor. Gomes would apparently rather deal in generalities. I think I'm understanding why ICANN are thought of so poorly.

[Acro]

ICANNWiki is NOT Wikipedia.

[GeorgeK]

There is at least 1 supporter of the proposed .biz/info/org contracts....Chuck Gomes of VeriSign!! See:

http://forum.icann.org/lists/biz-tld.../msg00106.html

Ensuring the continued security and stability of its infrastructure is
critical to the continued growth of the Internet. That is why VeriSign
supports the proposed new registry agreement for .biz. The agreement
closely mirrors the model registry agreements that ICANN has already
used or proposed for .com, .info, .mobi, .net, and .org.

These agreements strike the important balance between protecting
Internet users and providing registry operators with the incentives and
flexibility to continue to invest in the Internet infrastructure. They
also create a level playing field for all the registries.

He posted similar comments for .info and .org.

It would not surprise me if VeriSign is salivating at the prospect of these contracts being approved, so that it creates a precedent for future .com/net renegotiations.

[Fearless]

These agreements strike the important balance between protecting
Internet users and providing registry operators with the incentives and
flexibility to continue to invest in the Internet infrastructure.

I didn't know Verisign maintained the Internet infrastructure.:greenbigeek:

[Acro]

Damn you, Al Gore!

[GeorgeK]

We need Jack Bauer of '24' to save the day.

[whitebark]

Every American citizen who owns an internet biz needs to contact their congress-critter and make a stink. Tell them if you lose your biz because of this you will A) not vote for them, nor B) donate to their campaigns. But if they fight it they can expect both A and B. That's the language they know. You have to bet the vested interests over at ICANN are slipping plently of dollars into their congress-critters hands as we speak.

[Acro]

Seriously, it all comes down to generating enough raucous to make this shameful clause public. The Registries are about to rape individulals based on their post-interpretation of a domain name's value.

[LogicalDomains]

Has everyone who has posted in or read this thread actually taken the time to email ICANN their opinion? We were very late in waking up here and have to make a big impact. TODAY is the last day of the comment period. It closes at 5:00pm PDT.

Just email your comments to each of these 3 addresses...

biz-tld-agreement@icann.org; info-tld-agreement@icann.org; org-tld-agreement@icann.org

...and then click the links in the 3 verification emails you will receive.

[David G]

I only did for org since I have so many of them (but so few biz and info).

All my development has been stopped due to this issue. What's the point of developing and thereby adding value only so the registry can later on use the site popularity and traffic stats they will be gathering as evidence against you to justify the likely very large renewal fees!

[beatz]

I just finished my duty and have written (and confirmed of course) 3 emails - one for each extension - to oppose these plans.

2 thoughts:

- I'm shocked that there are not more emails than maybe a few hundred - it should be tens of thousands ?! That's why i included an additional request for extending the public comment period in all 3 emails.

- Would it not be possible that all the major domain forums would send emails as well so to represent 1000's of domainers at the same time ? Would be a huge time saver in opposite to single emails written by every individual member.

Either way - DO SOMETHING !!!