[Comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20] Stop .COM Price Increases

[Stavros Aronis]

Last month, 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. ICANN has a
history of making similar deals behind closed doors, and also of
ignoring unified opposition against such action.

However, this is a crucial time to raise our voices given that .COM
domains make up 40% of all registered domain names online.

Wholesale registries charge registrars a set fee per domain name per
year. 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.

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.

I state my strong opposition to these changes.

Stavros Aronis