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<div style="clear:both">Dear sirs,<br>
<br>
I just heard about this proposed amendent. I'm a minor domain name
consumer (a Christian missionary in Japan), but I do a lot of web
building, and as a result, I personally own four .COM domain names
for missions activities and am involved in managing IT for other
groups using three more .COMs (one of which I am writing from).
All are small volunteer ministries with little or no income and no
influence in the overall administration of the internet, so we
trust groups like ICANN to administer wisely. (I also own or
manage multiple .ORG and .NET domains in the same way - those are
not under fire at the moment, but I can't help but wonder if they
might be next, since .net is also operated by Verisign and PIR
will soon become for-profit.)<br>
<br>
From what I understand, it sounds like Verisign agreed to give you
money in exchange for a ruling change to allow them more freedom
in pricing. Yes, I know it wasn't technically "in exchange", but
it sure smells like a bribe to those of us on the outside.<br>
<br>
It also would allow Verisign to operate directly in the
registration business (as a reseller), controlling the system much
more than should be permitted. Yes, I'm aware that operators of
new gTLDs started since 2012 have been able to do this (that
doesn't seem proper either - I feel that gTLD operation and domain
name sales should be completely separate to prevent conflict of
interest, but that's water under the bridge now), but .COM is 42%
of all domain names - no single company should have that much
control over the internet. I would feel more comfortable if gTLD
operation were not done by for-profit corporations at all, but
that's clearly an unrealistic dream at this point.<br>
<br>
In addition, I'm concerned about the lack of transparency. The
deliberations were apparently made privately with only Verisign,
and many details about the agreement are still not publicly
available. The internet affects everyone, and negotiations of this
nature should be public, or at least involve additional affected
parties, so that decisions are fair and open.<br>
<br>
Please preserve the integrity of domain name management by
preventing conflicts of interest and keeping discussions
transparent and open. Thank you.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Karen Ellrick<br>
(Domains I own or manage: proverbs2525.org, danellrick.com,
l4jp.com, 14jp.com, thinkword.com,
crashjapan.com/crashjapan.org/crashjapan.net,
oicjapan.org/oicjapan.com, japanharvest.org/japanharvest.com,
prayersummitsjapan.net)<br>
<br>
<br>
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