[Comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20] Do Not Raise Prices for Registration of TLDs

[Ed Novak]

I have a Ph.D in computer science and I am currently an assistant professor
at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.  I am writing to urge
ICANN and Verisign NOT to raise the prices of the top level domain
".com"    Doing so directly hurts a variety of small enterprises and
individuals and therefore is harmful to the web in general.

When .com domains (by far the most popular TLD) become more expensive it
discourages small businesses, individuals, startups, and other similar
small / new enterprises from creating their own websites.  They will likely
turn to alternative "walled gardens" to publish content on the web such as
social media platforms.  Instead of being able to act independently and
build their brand on a neutral, equal opportunity platform they are pushed
to grow and reinforce the already massive social media companies.  They are
also then subject to the rules, policies, and procedures of these companies.

Additionally, for many organizations that already hold a .com TLD there is
entrenchment.  They have built a business and a brand on their TLD
website.  These price changes are going to extract money from these
companies, forcing them to pay more for the same service being provided.
This is unfair to those organizations and consolidates large sums of money
to an already powerful organization (Verisign).

Cheap .com domains help enable innovation, new ideas, original content, and
startup businesses.  They keep the web an open and free place, and they
encourage exploration and independence.  A marketplace with more
independent actors is more divergent, exciting, and creative.

-- 
-Professor Novak
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