[Comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20] I Oppose the ’Proposed Amendment 3 to the .COM Registry Agreement’

[R. Jason Klein]

To Whom it May Concern,

I oppose the ’Proposed Amendment 3 to the .COM Registry Agreement’.

Last month, ICANN, announced significant changes to the contract it has with Verisign, Inc., without consulting or incorporating feedback from the ICANN community or Internet users. This secret deal will lead to increases that will harm the Internet as a whole. 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 the increases don’t stop there. 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.

This is a sweetheart deal for ICANN. Alongside these contract changes, Verisign agreed to pay ICANN an additional $20 million 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.

The Internet is a publicly used network that needs to be made affordable to all users, and this deal will harm Internet users and will only benefit ICANN. It is for these reasons that I firmly oppose the ’Proposed Amendment 3 to the .COM Registry Agreement’.

Regards,

R. Jason Klein
President & CEO

Award Emblem Mfg. Co., Inc.
179 E. South Frontage Road
Bolingbrook, IL  60440-3512

630.739.8226  Phone
630.739.6877  Fax
630.235.5212  Mobile

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