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

[Theo]

The most complete statement, in my opinion, was posted here:

http://forum.icann.org/lists/org-tld-agreement/msg00174.html

 

[beatz]

I just talked with Sedo Germany about this and at least the representative i spoke to about this had no clue:

http://www.dnforum.com/thread174798.html

I hope they voice their opinion quick - if they have one, that is.

Btw - how long does it take for one's statement to appear on the ICANN page ? It's been almost an hour since i sent mine off.

 

[Theo]

My contribution below:

Dear ICANN,

Does the ICANN committee wish to attain notoriety by being known as the very few that damaged so many in so little time, through these proposals?

Put aside for a minute your personal agendas, capitalist driving force and current perception of the domain market's particulars.

Removing the pricing caps and allowing the Registries to facilitate tiered pricing would be a disastrous move. How would each domain name, be it .ORG,.BIZ,.INFO be evaluated? Who would weigh the millions of domains worldwide and tag them with a separate or approximate price?

We are not opposed to price-increasing, within reason. It has not been a long time since Verisign/Network Solutions charged $50 per year per domain. The Internet moved forward by removing the Registrar monopolies and by keeping prices competitive.

We are opposed to the predictable anarchy, chaos and across-the-board destruction that will occur if those loopholes are not closed and if the proposed agreements are implemented as they are, without ensuring protection of the end-users, commercial operators and investors. Legal battles can and *will* carry on for years at a full world scale, by everyone who would be affected by this committee's single act of foresight lacking.

You're holding the button to the first Internet War - and it will truly be global this time.

Sincerely,

Theo Develegas
President

Acroplex Technologies LLC
http://acroplex.com

 

[LogicalDomains]

Quick! DIGG this. #2 on their homepage:
http://digg.com/tech_news/ICANN_proposes_massive_increase_in_domain_name_prices

 

[beatz]

There's a political side to it as well.

If for instance a government minded in a way such as the current US one should one day think it would be a good idea to ban porn from the internet all they would have to do is talk to ICANN a little who then again talks to the registries a little - all the registries would have to do then is raise the renewal fees for porn ("obscene") domains to $1 bill./year.

Simple as that.

Much easier than getting a new law through congress.

This way, the tiered pricing could really also function as a backdoor for political influence and censorship on the internet.

Which almost frightens me more than "just" the economic aspect.

Btw as for media coverage - i for one *will* call all the main news channels/mags here in Germany tomorrow - this stuff will not end up under the carpet.

 

[NameYourself]

CALL ICANN and give them a piece of your mind!

+1.310.823.9358 ask to speak to "Patrick Jones".

He is the person in charge of overseeing these new TLD proposals which grant full blown monopolistic, exortionary pricing power! This must be stopped!

 

[Theo]

They already did that, beatz - with the non-launch of .xxx

 

[beatz]

CALL ICANN and give them a piece of your mind!

+1.310.823.9358 ask to speak to "Patrick Jones".

He is the person in charge of overseeing these new TLD proposals which grant full blown monopolistic, exortionary pricing power! This must be stopped!

He's away from his desk at the moment.

I was told to call back in like 40 minutes.

Will do, no problem :-D.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Do you really think this kind of corruption would stand if the Internet were not under the control of the US Government? We get all the Boggie Stories about the UN, but I can assure you they would never stand for this. The Land of the Free is being enslave by Mega Corporations. People rights are being shat on from a great height. Decisions made in the US impact on people from around the Globe who have absolutely no say, and American continues to preach to China on morality. It is time the rest of us said "Enough is Enough"!

 

[NameYourself]

He's away from his desk at the moment.

I was told to call back in like 40 minutes.

Will do, no problem :-D.

He just returned my call and basically said to post to the boards, and that all of those comments would be "SUMMARIZED" and then presented to the board when they go to make their decision. I told him how I felt. It's not right legally or morally and must continue to be regulated with some form of price caps to prevent descriminatory pricing on a domain by domain basis.

He said most likely after the board reviews it and votes, there might be another chance for public comments. This is SERIOUS folks. Do your part.

 

[Leading Names]

Do you really think this kind of corruption would stand if the Internet were not under the control of the US Government? We get all the Boggie Stories about the UN, but I can assure you they would never stand for this. The Land of the Free is being enslave by Mega Corporations. People rights are being shat on from a great height. Decisions made in the US impact on people from around the Globe who have absolutely no say, and American continues to preach to China on morality. It is time the rest of us said "Enough is Enough"!

Nicely said.

- Rob

 

[LogicalDomains]

This is NOT the time for politicking! 1 hour 35 mins to go...

 

[LogicalDomains]

There is a long delay on postings at the moment. Don't leave it too late to comment on the ICANN board!

 

[NameYourself]

Arichives haven't been updated in a while.. (1 1/2 hrs) hopefully they didn't just stop accepting the new ones:

last four posts...
# (Mon Aug 28 14:07:08 2006)
# (Mon Aug 28 14:07:14 2006)
# (Mon Aug 28 14:07:29 2006)
# (Mon Aug 28 14:08:33 2006)

Time now is: 15:56:00

 

[GeorgeK]

Yep, very poor archive system. They seem to do it in batches every hour, but then sometimes they skip an hour? Very strange.

 

[beatz]

I'd keep copies of the sent off emails stored - just in case...

 

[NameYourself]

By the way, when I spoke with them I was told this is all really just the way one person reads it. Good work George. It is what it is, and rationalizing it by reducing all to your sole opinion, just because you're the one who caught it is a ridiculous way to proceed with making decisions that have global impact.

 

[GeorgeK]

It's not just the way one person reads it. I waited 3 weeks from my initial observations to give ICANN's lawyers, through Vint Cerf, a chance to address my concern. It's their own legal counsel (and external counsel) who agreed with my analysis.

 

[LogicalDomains]

It's just updated. 475 posts today!

 

[carlton]

It's just updated. 475 posts today!

And a lot more where that came from. The arguments are detailed, lengthy, and plentiful. Most importantly: irrefutable. If ICANN waste much more of our time, we will see for the first time just how much power the domainer and internet community have. ICANN have one chance to get it right.