[Comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20] ICANN/Verisign .com agreement

[Brian Patlen]

ICANN announced significant changes to the contract it has with Verisign,
Inc. who operate the .COM top-level-domain (TLD). ICANN made these changes
in secret, without consulting or incorporating feedback from the ICANN
community or Internet users. According to this new agreement, Verisign will
be allowed to increase the wholesale price to registrars for .COM domains
every year for 8 out of the next 10 years, and with no language to freeze
future increases. This will mean that .COM wholesale domain prices can grow
by more than 70% over and above current prices over the next decade. The
contract also allows for other price increases, which could drive prices up
further, ultimately making .COM domains less accessible and more expensive
for everybody. Alongside these contract changes, Verisign agreed to pay
ICANN an additional $20 million dollars over five years to support ICANN's
domain name system initiatives, without any clarity about how ICANN will
spend the money, or who will ensure that the funds are properly spent on
domain infrastructure. These changes will have significant impact on the
Internet for years to come, and only ICANN and Verisign have participated in
this decision. 

As one who holds several domain names and a small business owner, this is
alarming and should not be implemented without significant input from all
stakeholders. In an age when we desperately need clarity and fairness, this
is an utter disgrace.  

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