Deal Reached on .com Domain Price Hikes

[NamingJournal.com]

NEW YORK - The board of the Internet's main oversight agency has approved a deal under which VeriSign Inc. must meet some conditions in order to raise fees for ".com" domain names.

VeriSign, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., operates the servers that constitute the Internet's core address book for ".com" Web sites, making sure that people find Web sites. The company sells ".com" addresses for $6 each to registrars who then sell them to the public.

Under the deal approved Tuesday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, VeriSign is allowed to raise its annual fee for domain names, which registrars could then pass along to customers.

The deal limits VeriSign's annual price increases to 7 percent in four of the next six years. In two of the years, VeriSign could raise fees by the same percentage only in response to a security threat or to comply with an ICANN mandate.

The ICANN board was divided on the issue, voting 9 to 5 for approval, with one abstention. Statements by the board members were not immediately available.

The deal has faced opposition from some registrars, who have complained about the price increases and the fact that like previous contracts, it gives VeriSign the first right to renew the contract with ICANN when it expires in 2012.

"We are disappointed that after hearing from so many Internet stakeholders about why this proposal is anticompetitive, the ICANN board still approved a known bad deal," said Champ Mitchell, chief executive of Network Solutions Inc., a registrar that was sold off by VeriSign in 2003.

The deal needs final approval by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mitchell urged the government to reject it.

VeriSign said it was "pleased" with ICANN's approval, and noted that it was similar to a deal reached last year over ".net" domain names, which the company also administers.

On the Nasdaq Stock Market, shares of VeriSign rose 15 cents, to close at $23.81.

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer
Wed Mar 1, 5:32 PM ET


read more articles at www.namingjournal.com

 

[robertjr]

To go against the grain here, i think its good news, but not enough of a hike. I'd like to see domains up at $200+ to counteract SERPS spam and all the crappy 5 cent Adsense pages that are polluting the Internet.

It will make people think about what they register , put more thought into development and marketing the names plus it will help legitimate business launching brands, improve search engine results, reduce spam, increase decent domain property prices, stem the flow of irrelevant PCC customer click costs, cut PPC fraud, reduce PPC bid prices and save a lot of people here a lot of money and hassle registering totally useless names. Including me :D

Hmm...

Half the domains in your sig are parked and defrags does not resolve.

As for

crappy 5 cent Adsense pages

, I would rather see that than parking pages. I may just find something I want and less "pop ups" :imho:

 

[JMJ]

Nice catch robert, parked names in a sig is worse than any spam in my book.

 

[Aaron D.]

GoDaddy is encouraging its customers to write their senators to stop the deal.

-- GO DADDY OPPOSES ICANN-VERISIGN AGREEMENT

Yesterday, February 28, ICANN announced that its Board of Directors met and approved the pending deal with VeriSign(R) for the .COM registry. The agreement will let VeriSign raise registration fees by 7% annually in four of the next six years. It will also give VeriSign control of the .COM registry indefinitely, as it extends VeriSign's "presumptive renewal" right when this agreement ends in 2012.

The deal was approved by a majority vote, with nine voting in favor and five voting against. One director abstained. Vinton Cerf, who is the Chairman of ICANN and also now an employee of Google(R), voted in favor of the give-away.

Following the vote, Credit Suisse increased the price target on VeriSign stock. Their analyst describes the .COM registry as VeriSign's highest margin business (before any price increases). He goes on to say that the compounding effect of just the price increases could represent a net present value of $4 to $5 per share for VeriSign, or 1 to 1.25 billion dollars. The price increases will start in 2007.

Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons is voicing strong disapproval of this agreement. "The agreement is a bad deal for our customers and the Internet community as a whole," said Parsons.

"The fact that this deal was approved is a loud signal that major changes are needed at ICANN. If we don't step up and overhaul ICANN, and leave the Internet largely under the control of this incredibly inept organization, this will go a long way in providing the United Nations with the ammunition it needs to start taking control of the Internet -- that must never happen."

From here, before the deal becomes final, the U.S. Department of Commerce will still need to approve it. If you are disappointed with this recent decision, consider writing a letter to your Senator and Congressperson. You can find the email address of your representatives at the following two Websites:

+ For the Senate: www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

+ For the House: www.house.gov/writerep/

For more information about the agreement, please visit Bob Parsons' blog -- Hot Points! -- at http://www.BobParsons.com.

 

[Silhouette]

Hmm...
Half the domains in your sig are parked and ...

:yell: U made my day...

parked names in a sig is ....

I've always wanting to ask, Is that allowed by the parking company??

 

[JMJ]

:yell: U made my day...

I've always wanting to ask, Is that allowed by the parking company??

No it's against most parking providers TOS aswell as unethical because it overinflates traffic numbers. In fact if there's not already there should be a forum rule against it.

 

[Silhouette]

No it's against most parking providers TOS ...

oic, thanks ... just as what I thought
I am surprise to see sig. linked to parking page...

 

[oliciv]

i hope google buys off verisign and starts offering domains for $1 that'll be the end of this issue once and for all. google should also provide free web hosting for all these domains ... in any case they store the cache of the whole web ... big deal for them :lol: and anyway half the sites out there use adsense (and the other half uses adwords) :yell: ... so it's not a problem for them even from the business standpoint.

Because Google don't care about making money? :hehe:

 

[sm]

"unethical" becomes refined and defined in accordance with what one currently does or does not do. for instance, if sig links to parked pages are unethical, equally unethical is the practice of regging typos of well known (and not so well known) brands. If the latter isnt unethical, the former isnt as well. What one's opinion is depends on what one is currently involved in (subject to further future refinements and modifications) :o:o

 

[Simsi]

Hmm...
Half the domains in your sig are parked and defrags does not resolve.

Sorry but i think you totally missed the point. I didn't say "to stop adsense spam" (or domain speculators), i said to reduce it and remove the crap. Pricier domains will still attract parking etc and no problem there, just fewer domains, higher standard.

I made it clear in my post i collect domains and park them to sell them and make some PPC in the process but that what I am doing isn't necessarily a good thing for the Internet.

I'm not trying to find the best solution for "me", I'm suggesting what would be better for "society" in general. I'll accept the hit for the greater good if that's what it is.

 

[Ringr]

I don't get it, why would they feel the need to even raise the prices in the first place?! The domain industry is ANYTHING but hurting, they could lower the prices by 20% and there would still be millions of enough users to not signifigantly affect the money they get. I think all of this is done so that a few select people can have some more change in their pockets. Domains used to cost A LOT to register back in the late 90's and whatnot, and the prices have been relatively cheap the last 4 or 5 years, but why would they shoot up? I don't get it, the market is getting bigger, yet they want to inflate it. Friggen retards.

 

[seeker]

Sorry but i think you totally missed the point. I didn't say "to stop adsense spam" (or domain speculators), i said to reduce it and remove the crap. .

right....
did you read the original statement???
this is for .com only.
spammers can reg checp .info's or whatever and keep doing what they do with other extensions.

I fail to see your logic (because there isnt any), and hiding behind what you believe to be "the greater good" of the internet isnt convincing me either...

 

[Simsi]

right....
did you read the original statement???
this is for .com only.
spammers can reg checp .info's or whatever and keep doing what they do with other extensions.

Agreed. This would have to apply across the board to be effective.

I fail to see your logic (because there isnt any)

Then i obviously didn't explain it well enough for you


Oh and I can see why domainers would not all like this move. But many would appreciate why it makes sense.

 

[NamingJournal.com]

NEW YORK - The board of the Internet's main oversight agency has approved a deal under which VeriSign Inc. must meet some conditions in order to raise fees for ".com" domain names.

VeriSign, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., operates the servers that constitute the Internet's core address book for ".com" Web sites, making sure that people find Web sites. The company sells ".com" addresses for $6 each to registrars who then sell them to the public.

Under the deal approved Tuesday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, VeriSign is allowed to raise its annual fee for domain names, which registrars could then pass along to customers.

The deal limits VeriSign's annual price increases to 7 percent in four of the next six years. In two of the years, VeriSign could raise fees by the same percentage only in response to a security threat or to comply with an ICANN mandate.

The ICANN board was divided on the issue, voting 9 to 5 for approval, with one abstention. Statements by the board members were not immediately available.

The deal has faced opposition from some registrars, who have complained about the price increases and the fact that like previous contracts, it gives VeriSign the first right to renew the contract with ICANN when it expires in 2012.

"We are disappointed that after hearing from so many Internet stakeholders about why this proposal is anticompetitive, the ICANN board still approved a known bad deal," said Champ Mitchell, chief executive of Network Solutions Inc., a registrar that was sold off by VeriSign in 2003.

The deal needs final approval by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mitchell urged the government to reject it.

VeriSign said it was "pleased" with ICANN's approval, and noted that it was similar to a deal reached last year over ".net" domain names, which the company also administers.

On the Nasdaq Stock Market, shares of VeriSign rose 15 cents, to close at $23.81.

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer
Wed Mar 1, 5:32 PM ET


read more articles at www.namingjournal.com

Why do people always get off the subject?

 

[Kate]

"Dotcom contract 'undermines' ICANN's integrity"

Article in The Register - Friday 3rd March 2006
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/03/icann_board_member_statements/

The new dotcom contract undermines ICANN's integrity and "poses unacceptable risks to the values that underly ICANN's mission", one of the internet watchdog's own board members said.

In statements released today over the controversial contract passed earlier this week, new member Susan Crawford pulled no punches in her dissection of the deal. She also has the support of other board members, including some that voted in favour of the deal.

...