[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Comment regarding 'Pricing for Domain Name Registrations and Registry Services'

[mdn01-bboard at usa.net]

I appreciate the opportunity to submit the following comments regarding the
proposed renewal terms of the .org Registry Agreement. My comments pertain
specifically to the 'Pricing for Domain Name Registrations and Registry
Services (Section 2.10 of the .org renewal agreement)'. These comments
represent my personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the official
policy or opinions of any professional organizations and employers that I am
affiliated with.

As a member of the constituency who has utilized retail domain name registry
services on the behalf of multiple organizations of various sizes, I am
concerned about and do not support the proposed removal of current
stipulations that limit the price of registrations and allowable price
increases for registrations, as this pertains specifically to .org domains.
The .org TLD is unique amongst all TLDs in representing an important concept
to internet users of a typical, non-commercial enterprise. There is therefore
substantial value for usage of this domain across a wide array of
not-for-profit efforts, many of which have severely limited resources. In
addition, fiscal predictability of future expenditures is oftentimes critical
for small to moderately-sized non-profit organizations. The proposed
grandfathering of existing domain owners' renewals is insufficient to address
these concerns and the proposed changes may, therefore, provide significant
and unneccessary future barriers and other constraints on the establishment,
visibility, and viability of small organizations' internet presences that have
important social and societal benefits.

I therefore urge ICANN to reject the currently proposed amendment to the
'Pricing for Domain Name Registrations and Registry Services (Section 2.10 of
the .org renewal agreement)'

Sincerely,

Marc Natter
Director of Research Informatics, Childhood Arthritis & Rheumatology Research
Alliance
Principal Investigator, Computational Health Informatics Program, Boston
Children's Hospital