[Comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20] This is a clear cut shakedown

[Paul Myburgh]

The Amendment 35 of "the Cooperative Agreement" was to lay the groundwork.

Turning TLD registration into a money-making scheme, especially .COM which
has a long history of neutrality online (being one of the earliest and
clearly the most recognizable) is extremely anti-consumer.

The reasoning given for this change: *"In recognition that ccTLDs, new
gTLDs, and the use of social **media have created a more dynamic DNS
marketplace"* is plain and simple completely ridiculous and disingenuous.
Yes, more people are buying domains these days, which is great because more
people are sharing their projects with the world - but to now decide to
capitalize on that, being an organisation that is supposed to provide these
services with neutrality and transparency - is a dangerous precedent to
set. The fact that more domains are being sold should be enough, as I'm
sure there is plenty of additional capital being generated from that, far
exceeding the server costs required to provide that service.

Domain names are already an unfortunate required step for small businesses
and individuals to share their projects with the world- it often involves
much deliberation and time because of squatters and now an additional risk
of extortionate pricing based on literally no value add!

The bottom line: You are trying to turn a *vital global service* which
should be *neutral, transparent and provided in good-will to the public*
into a source of capitalistic greed.

Please do not go forward with this amendment. Show us that you are an
organisation with integrity and one we can trust to provide us with such a
vital public service in a fair and open manner.

Sincerely,
Paul Myburgh
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