[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] I oppose this
Taras Shemchuk
taras at shem.co
Wed Apr 24 19:20:15 UTC 2019
I do not support the removal of the price cap provisions from the
renewal of the.org gTLD agreement. These provisions which limited the
price of registrations and allowable price increases for registrations,
are important to allowing small organizations, especially non-profit
charity organizations to exist on the Internet. Many of these
organizations have long-held.org domain names and a substantial
percentage of their meager funding is tied to donors being able to find
them via those domains. The massive potential price increases (as
opposed to the moderate ones that are already possible) would prohibit
smaller organizations and personal projects from having a place on the
Internet.
Let me be clear, there is no inherent 'worth' to domain names and no
registry 'deserves' to profit from the sale of domain names. These are
in infinite supply and simply a ledger entry. They are not a product
where the registry provides any innovation nor are they a product which
costs any substantial amount of money to produce. The costs of domain
registration must ONLY cover the costs of administering said registry
which are very minor costs given the automation level possible.
While I understand that legacy gTLD providers are upset that they are
limited in what they can charge when newer TLD providers are not they do
have a distinct advantage of being more recognizable and are thus more
than making up for it in volume. The greed of gTLD providers should not
be a reason to allow unreasonable price increases. If a legacy gTLD
provider does not feel they can cover their costs in a price-capped
arrangement we should instead seek out a new provider for the gTLD. I'm
certain that there are many organizations who would be more than happy
to take over the oversight of these legacy gTLDs while still agreeing to
the price caps.
Indeed I would support a reverse-auction of qualified bidders for all
legacy gTLDs where the winner would be the organization which would
guarantee the lowest price for registrations. THIS competition would
best serve the users of the Internet, not the opposite which is to
remove price caps.
Let me quote from an excellent article on this subject which well
explains why competition is a false idea in this marketplace -- :
"If price caps are eliminated, competition will not keep prices in
check. Competition is effective in restraining prices only if
registrants can easily switch one domain name for another. An
organization's domain name becomes its online brand for the life of the
organization. Moving to another domain name requires undergoing the
hugely expensive and disruptive ordeal of rebranding and is to be
avoided at nearly any cost. Organizations wish to continue using their
existing domain name, for which there is no adequate substitute. When
there is a unique product that cannot be easily substituted for any
other, there is no effective competition.
In the absence of competition, registrants can be protected from
extortionate pricing only through pricing constraints, such as price
caps. ICANN as the trustee for the legacy name spaces has the
responsibility of an owner"
Sincerely,
Taras Shemchuk
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