[Comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20] I am against this amendment regarding .com price increases

[K. Steckel]

Good morning.

I am a freelance artist/small business owner of SteckelFX LLC, whose
website is steckelfx.com.  My website is very important to my business, as
it acts as both a resume, and a point of reference for my customers.

I am very much against the proposed amendment regarding .com pricing.  The
suggested change that an increase of 7% each year for 4 years, a 2 year
freeze, and then a repeat of the cycle with no end or cap in sight is both
terrifying and disappointing to me.  Terrifying because many freelancer's
fiscal situation is tenuous at best, and the prospect of one necessary
component (among many other necessary parts) of our livelihood skyrocketing
to astronomical and unnecessary proportions fills me with dread, and that
makes me disappointed.

It disappoints me that the internet, possibly the greatest human invention
ever, that thing which connects the world, is having a large portion of it
put into a stranglehold.  A stranglehold that is the first step to this
wonderful source of information being smothered and controlled by only
those with the pocketbooks to do so.  I understand that a price increase on
a simple domain name may be small, but it is a small step towards the giant
leap of the fall of the original idea of the internet.  The internet has
already been twisted by greed and corruption, whose repercussions are
difficult for the common user to avoid (case in point, I'm sending this
from a google account).  I implore you to not aid in this.

The complete lack of transparency of why you are receiving 20 MILLION
dollars, and furthermore how that money will be spent by you, is
worrisome.  Please take a moment to put yourself in our shoes, and see how
this looks.  It looks like a bribe by a powerful corporate entity.  It
looks like you can be bought.  I'm not accusing you of this, but I ask that
you think about how it looks.

I am disheartened by these actions that you have taken, and it does not
paint a good picture of the future.  I have taken the time to write you
these comments, even though I doubt that you will take them into
consideration.  As was shown when the price-caps were removed from .org,
.info, and .biz Top Level Domains.  When over 3500 people in your community
are against an action-- when less than .001% of them support the price cap
removal-- it is hard to believe that you have an interest in what we the
people have to say when you appear to ignore our voice.  It wounds us that
you removed those pricecaps based primarily on a *biased preliminary*
analysis that did not reference any data.  Where is the sense or logic in
that?

Once again I implore you to reconsider this amendment, for your own image
if not for the ethical and moral well-being of the internet.
Sincerely,
Steckel Bleier -- SteckelFX LLC -- Your client and a member of the ICANN
community
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