[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Writing to express opposition to the terms of the proposed renewal of the .org registry agreement

[Alex McDonald]

Thank you for the opportunity to submit a comment.

I am a .org registrant and a not-for-profit or non-profit organization.  
(FriendsHouston.org - Live Oak Friends Meeting (Quakers))

Advancements in technology should be driving the cost of operating a 
registry down, yet prices keep going up? Removing price caps is unfair 
to the millions of domain registrants. They will have no price 
protections. Every registrant will be at the complete mercy and whims of 
the registry. This could result in a transfer of funds from millions of 
non-profits to one non-profit, with no benefits to the domain registrants.

ICANN is supposed to represent a "bottom up, consensus-driven 
multistakeholder model". ICANN should not unilaterally impose URS in 
legacy TLDs when that issue is precisely what is being examined by the 
volunteer ICANN Working Group who has been mandated to review this issue.

ICANN should be looking out for the .org registrants, in particular the 
non-profits. There is no "public benefit" justification to these 
changes. It is just a handout to business at the expense of registrants’ 
rights and protections. Where are the protections for the millions of 
domain registrants that this could effect in a negative way? These 
changes would give way too much power to the registry. This is not 
acceptable for a "public benefit" organization that exists to represent 
many stakeholders.

Alex McDonald
Clerk - Finance Committee
Live Oak Friends Meeting
Houston, Texas
finance at friendshouston.org