<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style>
</head>
<body dir="ltr">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
<span>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black"> I am a registrant of a .com domain name for personal use and I wish to comment on these proposed changes.</span></p>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p> </o:p></span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The call for comments regarding the proposed changes that could result in (up to) 7% price increases per year for .com
domains purports to be justified by being in the public interest.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The summary fails to expound as to why this would be in the
public interest or why this is necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The comments mentioned in the proposed amendments were vague and without
more detailed supporting reasons, do not rise to a compelling reason.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The fact that no compelling reason was given for this
leads me to believe that <span style="color:black">Verisign has not given one.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>From what we can see with other wholesale providers, the cost to the
wholesaler for .COM (In this case, Verisign) to support this should be substantially less than what they are wholesaling it for.
Even with one 7% price hike on all of the .COM registrants, the extra money would be in the many 10s of millions of dollars
just for that 7% portion of the cost.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It is hard to understand what one 7% price hike would go towards (Let alone several
more hikes in the future that are compounded ).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;
color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Given that this is for a registration function, proposing this type of price increase for this service seems excessive and
that would adversely affect personal and small business registrants in particular as well as set a precedence for open-ended
price increases in general.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This seems to be a poor reason to grant this change.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It should be incumbent for those requesting
this change to demonstrate why this is in the public good and how this would accomplish these goals.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I would have expected
more of an outreach by those proposing this change to those that would be affected by these changes (and price increases).
This would be the transparent and reasonable step to take.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Relying on the company that would benefit for price increases
to set these rates without other relevant parties involved seems to be a poor approach.</span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;
color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The second troubling aspect of this proposal (especially for ICANN), is allowing Verisign to be both the wholesaler
of .COM domains as well as a Domain Registrar for .COM (directly or indirectly).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Given that the .COM domain is by far the
largest domain, this put Verisign in an anti-competitive position which would not serve those that rely on this service.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The
amendment states that you would rely on Verisign to set the rates and to have them dictating these changes at both the
wholesale level and retail level.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The possible advantages (since they wouldn’t have oversight) at the retail level, would
create an environment that could be abused.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>International companies have been brought into court and sanctioned for
similar anti-competitive practices.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This might put ICANN into a position that could damage their reputation (As some might
see ICANN as party to this agreement) as an impartial governing agency which would be something that no one wants to see.</span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;
color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As a result of reading the summary I have come to the following conclusions. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I have not found compelling reasons
for these possible reoccurring larger price increases and no effort on the parties presenting these changes to justify these
specific changes.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The adverse effects that this could have on personal and small businesses without any documented
positive benefits to the people using this service strikes me as a negative.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The open-ended possible price increases is not a
good model for many services as it bypasses justifying these increases to a larger audience that would be affected by these
changes and finally allowing VeriSign to be both the wholesaler and retailer of the .COM domains without any safeguards
to insure that VeriSign doesn’t have a benefit that other retailers would not have.</span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;
color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In light of this, I would urge you to reject these amendments.
Bruce Edwards
bkedwards@edwardsbk.com
</span></pre>
<pre style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;
color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></pre>
<br>
</span></div>
</body>
</html>