[Comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20] .com rates

[Johnathan Ebbers]

Hello,

I'm writing to you today to express my dissatisfaction with the recent
proposed changes to .com rates in the coming years in exchange for funds
from Verisign. I think that this will only serve to further social
inequities.

I do believe that widespread perceptions are more "sticky" than prices, and
as much as it is tempting to believe that hiking the prices of .com domains
up to nearly double will simply and solely result in them becoming half as
popular and desirable, I do not believe this to be the case. Most ppl are
unaware of how much domain names cost, they are unaware of how these prices
are determined, and they do not know that the most popular TLD is owned by
Verisign. So, I think ppl will continue to view websites with a .com domain
with higher legitimacy and yet, it will become a larger barrier to entry
for new upstarts and, for the vast majority of domain possessors,
represents another way in which wealth is transferred from those who have
less of it to those who have much of it.

I strongly discourage you from moving forward with this "deal," and I hope
that you ultimately choose to serve the public interest. ICANN has
continued as a largely unregulated and unmonitored body for quite some
time, but there's no reason that could not change in the future

– Johnathan Ebbers
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