.info .biz, .info and .org to have variable prices?

[ekal]

Message over at DNJournal: Click here to view the original

Domain owners need to take immediate action if they want to lodge objections to approval of proposed new contract extensions for the .biz, .info and .org registries. George Kirikos discovered that the current proposals leave the door open for the registries to adopt the kind of variable pricing model used by the .TV registry. This means those registries could start charging thousands of dollars a year to renew domains people have already developed and turned into valuable businesses. Kirikos detailed the situation in a post at the Domain State forum. ICANN is currently allowing public comment on the agreements but that will end Monday (August 28) at 5pm U.S. Pacific time. Frank Schilling of Name Administration, Inc. has already posted a compelling statement that lays out the danger the agreements pose to domain registrants and developers.

 

[antonis12]

This is a huge issue. Please take a moment to post your objection as the public comment period ends on Monday.

It is an inconceivable abdication of responsibility by ICAAN that makes the prior (awful) .com look good by comparison.

Mods, could you make this thread sticky until Monday? I can think of no worse outcome for a) these registries and b) the other registries which will use this to demand the same terms for themselves.

 

[irishmat]

omg this is crazy

 

[antonis12]

Not to be alarmist, but you could envision an scenario where this ultimately slows the development of online businesses and completely eliminates domaineering.

I mean who would build an online business or market an offline business under these conditions?

They keep using the .tv model as an analogy, but this is worse. .tv does not change the pricing of already registered domains. This model would allow that. It means that you have given a silent partnership to the registry of every business that wants to be online. It is insane that something like this is happening under the cover of darkness; we need to mobilize as much opposition on the public comments boards as possible.

Ideally, you need to get this into mainstream press...

 

[lpstong]

I wonder why I have been seeing such a hoopla and big discussion in forums about .info. This will most certainly jack up the sales of such extensions. But it is stupid as well for such a drastic change in pricing as well.

I agree this should be a sticky till Monday.

 

[ekal]

This does seem like a serious situation for all three TLDs.

Essentially, the better your site does and the more profile you give to that extension, the more they're likely to charge you every year.....

 

[namey]

This is terrible, I hate the way .tv charges more for premium names and would hate to see this happen at other tlds.

 

[Michelle]

Interesting .... I will be keeping a close eye on this :td:

 

[floatingworld]

...my guess is that variable pricing might be applied to new registrations. this already happens with new car number plates in Hong Kong and Singapore....but is highly unlikely to be applied for name renewals......

 

[seeker]

...my guess is that variable pricing might be applied to new registrations. this already happens with new car number plates in Hong Kong and Singapore....but is highly unlikely to be applied for name renewals......

that is a good point you bring up.

however, if you read the fine print at the registrars, there is no commitment to a certian price, even for renewals.

If something isnt done about this, it could very well be the next step into another money making idea by some TLD sponsors, who are feeding off domain speculators...

 

[Sir Regalot]

.org is used heavily by charities and non-profit organisations: what they gonna do start charging charities thousands for using their domains? Shame on them! You can't get more money grabbing than that! What they going to do send an email to an organistaion like: http://www.jbd.org/ (Jewish Blind and Disabled) and thousand like them saying you got a three letter domain gives us thousand or you'll lose your domain.

Info is also used often by government and state organisation giving out public information and .biz is not a prestigious domain extension and is often used by small, not wealthy businesseses. .TV is used by wealthly television companies and the high prices are used to benefit the natives of a small island and the money is a godsend to them. If info, biz and .org start charging premium prices the extra money raised will only benefit already wealthy executives and shareholders.

 

[antonis12]

...my guess is that variable pricing might be applied to new registrations. this already happens with new car number plates in Hong Kong and Singapore....but is highly unlikely to be applied for name renewals......

The contract as written explicitly allows for prices for renewals for existing registrants to be raised without limit (that means YOU - any holder of .biz/.info/.org domains)

This is significantly worse than the .tv terms where renewals are priced at the original registration fee.

1. This will make the registry your "silent partner" in any internet business. If the business is successful, the registry will raise its renewal prices to confiscate a large amount of the value of your business. Yes, the proposed contract is THAT BAD.

2. It is not an exaggeration to say that this will redistribute the value of any "premium" .info/.org/.biz from the domain registrant to the registry.

I would encourage you not to zone out on this one because it is a "technical" issue. It is a pure and simple hijacking of the value of the domains of all registrants, including those of the members of this board.

I find it a bit sad that the board is merrily going along appraising names while a thread relating to the complete dismantling of the domain system as we know it has comments from about 5 people.

What should you do?

1. Go here to read a summary of the proposed changes and read the public comments to date:

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

Many major firms like Godaddy, Network Solutions and iREIT have already posted extensive and thoughtful objections.

2. Once you have read the comments, post an additional public comment of your own objecting to these contracts. If you are not certain what to write, just write something along the following lines.
"
To the Board of Directors of ICANN,

I am writing to note my strong objection to the terms and conditions of the proposed contracts for the .info/.biz/.org TLD.

In particular the elimination of price caps, the introduction of tiered pricing and the strengthening of presumptive renewal are terms that are not in the best interest of registrants and will hinder the growth and development of online businesses.

I strongly urge to you to reject these contracts and re-start the negotiation process taking into account the upcoming recommendations of your own policy committee (GNSO) and to advocate strongly for the interests of the broad internet community to produce a balanced and fair contract.

Respectfully,

YOUR NAME
"

Note that there is an email confirmation process you have to go through for your email to be posted.

Senior members of this Board / mods, I would encourage you to engage with and weigh in on this topic - this is important.

If domaineers for god's sake don't care about this, how do you expect the average user or small business person to.

While it is unclear that ICANN will be responsive at this stage, that is not an excuse for not making the objections of registrants heard as strongly as possible so that there is no way ICANN can claim that it was unaware of objections.

Thank you for your consideration.