Sedo - where's your stand in the proposed ICANN registrar agreement changes ?!!

[beatz]

I can't believe Sedo has neither released anything about the proposed registrar agreement changes between ICANN and Neustar/Afilias regarding the variable pricing at registry level of .org, .info, and .biz nor posted an opposition on the ICANN site.

Sedo, where are you ?
Are you asleep ?!

I just talked to someone from higher management of Sedo in Germany about this and he didnt have a clue really.He was like "No way, ICANN won't do that" and all.

So Sedo, just in case you'd like to know what's going on in the world of domains today i recommend immediate read of this:

http://www.dnforum.com/thread173714.html

After that, look at these links to get more indepth info:

http://kenmccarthy.blogs.com/ken_mccarthy/2006/08/domain_name_mad.html

The ICANN proposals can be found here, as well as the opposing statements by people like Rick Schwartz, Registrars etc:

http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-28jul06.htm

You can also find the respective email addresses there to voice your opinion.

But don't forget - today is the last chance to oppose against these plans !

I really hope Sedo has an opinion on this and isn't afraid to voice it - hopefully in time.

 

[Theo]

As with all things ICANN, it's best to keep everything under wraps.

Yes, domain parking companies like Sedo, Fabulous, Domainsponsor etc would suffer billions of dollars worth of damage if domain operators & owners lost or had their domains cancelled due to tiered or exhuberant pricing.

 

[David G]

So many names would be non-renewed I feel some of the parking firms would probably go out of business or at least decline. In fact, the entire business model may collapse.

 

[sevent]

I just got an email from parked.com about the issue. ALL of the sponsors should be alerting ALL of their members about this.

 

[domainah]

its strange how everything realted to internet services gets cheaper but ICANN claims it has more costs.., isnt it the government after all (department of commerce?) sounds more like they are looking to fix their budgets..

 

[Irish31]

Why isn't there a governing body that regulates this stuff, or some watch dog group to make sure ICANN acts in good faith?


Time to instill one if there isn't. You can usually pick the year an ungoverned -unregulated group will start to turn corrupt these days.

Maybe i'm wrong and there is. But unless i'm missing something, this is universally "stupid", not just "bad for economics". It's just stupid, and when stupid crops up, someone should be there to slap it down.


Jay

 

[Theo]

Best bet yet: it's election year. Push comes to shove we'll have the political strong-arming into the arena.

 

[SedoCoUk]

Hi all,

As the proposed changes would affect our clients and the parking industry as a whole, Sedo is opposed.

However, Sedo does not have ICANN constituency. All registrars and registries are the constituents of ICANN. Sedo is working to obtain constituency and would be the first parking program to do so.

As far as parking and ICANN are concerned, Sedo has been the longest attending parking program at ICANN meetings. True, several other parking programs have recently started attending ICANN meetings, but Sedo has always worked to defend the domain owners at these meetings, and will continue to do so.

Kind regards,

Brad
[email protected]

 

[beatz]

Good to know - would have been great though if Sedo would have managed to actually post their opposition to the respective ICANN comments page when there was still time like Godaddy, Ireit etc have done.

Afterall a company that claims to be the worlds biggest marketplace for domains might have had some impact in officially opposing these plans.

Too bad Sedo was asleep at the wheel.

Oh well.

 

[Theo]

I believe it was a "bank holiday" yesterday in the UK.

 

[beatz]

It wasn't in Germany

The point is - from a company like Sedo i would have expected that they'd be the first to know before all others what's happening and not the last.

Too late for now anyway.

 

[SedoCoUk]

Hi All,

Again, Sedo does not fit into ICANN constituency like Godaddy and IREIT. At ICANN meetings, Sedo has the ability to make its voice heard and when we have the opportunity, we certainly stand up to defend the rights of domain owners.

Kind regards,

Brad
[email protected]

 

[carlton]

Brad - I think the suggestion that Sedo express their opposition publicy was reasonable. And Sedo not posting an official response on the ICANN forum was a missed opportunity. Not fitting into ICANN constituency does not negate the influence of Sedo. You are the largest domain marketplace, and employ well-known industry veterans.

The proposed contract terms in the biz/info/org contracts threaten domainers' security and jeopardize years of hard work. These domainers represent a good portion of your customer base. I, for one, like and respect Sedo for what they have accomplished.

Until proven otherwise I regard Sedo as very closely partnered with the greater domain community. And maintaining that productive association requires that organizations, like Sedo, stand up when their support can make a difference. Please do continue to be a strong advocate when and where you can.

 

[SedoCoUk]

Hi Carlton,

Thank you for your kind words about Sedo. Please be assured that Sedo will continue to act as an advocate for the domain community (the domain name owners). It is for this reason that Sedo is working to become ICANN accredited.

Kind regards,

Brad
[email protected]

In addition to this, Sedo works to convince advertisers of the merits of parking (doing this also benefits the community as a whole).

 

[beatz]

..Sedo does not fit into ICANN constituency like Godaddy and IREIT.

What has that to do with voicing your opinion ?

So "not fitting into the ICANN constituency" was the reason for Sedo not officially opposing these contract changes ?

How am i or any other person that emailed their opinion to ICANN fitting better in the "ICANN constituency" ?!

Don't get me wrong, i second what Carlton said and do respect Sedo as an important part of domain community.

But i also do think that a company that - again - claims to be the worlds biggest marketplace for domains as such has some kind of responsibility in situations like this to clearly and officially make a statement.

Sedo could have done this when there was the opportunity like so many others have; Sedo could also have posted a news item about it on their site or at least on their forums to motivate more people sending their emails to ICANN.

It could have made a difference.

I am dissapointed because i would have expected more from a company like Sedo; to say "we voice our concerns at ICANN meetings" is - sorry to say that - a lame, lame excuse.To me it translates to "We chickened".

Sorry guys, but there are times when you have to make a statement and Sedo chose to not make one.

Simple as that.

 

[Fearless]

Just come out and tell them Brad, Sedo is not posting, **** off.

I didn't post either, I'm apathetic.

 

[JuniperPark]

Please be assured that Sedo will continue to act as an advocate for the domain community (the domain name owners). Kind regards,

Brad
[email protected]

In addition to this, Sedo works to convince advertisers of the merits of parking (doing this also benefits the community as a whole).

Sedo, your bluff has been called!

Since you claim to be an advocate, and even "present at the ICANN meetings", then please post here your letter of protest to the current proposal, and outline the steps you intend to take to block it.

Otherwise, we just have to assume Sedo was asleep at the wheel, and hasn't done squat.

 

[beatz]

Sedo is working to become ICANN accredited.

I guess here is the real answer to why Sedo didn't oppose.

Or didn't do anything for that matter.

There goes the credibility.

 

[David G]

It was gutless of Sedo to not participate. Posting against it here helps very little.

In their interest to become icann accredited and therefore ignore the icann thread Sedo apparently fails to realize if the registry get open-ended sky is the limit renewal rights it could easily destroy their business model and put them out of business.

The number of parked domains and domainers would greatly decline and the buyers would also fade away. After all who will want to buy a domain when it was $9 to renew this year but possibly $999 (or even more) in 2 yrs due to the work done by the domainer or developer giving the domain value.

 

[domainah]

Since ICANN is government controlled, which bascially means you can expect irrational and corrupt decisions, and if there is a chance of someone making big bucks on some ICANN board by it, price increases are going to happen... I wouldnt be surprised if at one point a strong alternative to the current ICANN controlled BS is going to develop, it might seem unlikely now, but thats what people said about AT&T too in the 70s..