[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Price caps on .org domains

[Antoine Latter]

I don't think it makes sense for ICANN to remove the price-caps on
registration of .org domains. The registry-service-providers are
contractors operating the .org registry at the hire of ICANN (and for the
public good). It does not make sense to allow the contractor to set any
price they want. The operation of the .org domain is significantly
different in nature to an entity which requests, markets, and operates a
new gTLD. It does not make sense to treat the operator of the .org domain
"equitably" with operators of a gTLD, as the operator of a gTLD is not
being given the gift of a top-level-domain with large cultural, social, and
economic value.

The operator of the .org domain operates a monopoly with a large amount of
value, and ICANN should continue to intervene in the pricing of the
monopoly good to arrive at an economically fair outcome.

It does not make sense to treat the service-provider of the .org domain the
same as the operators of gTLDs as the operator of a gTLD has invented,
marketing, and branded the gTLD. The .org domain is a fixture of the public
internet, not something that requires actual investment or marketing on the
part of the service-provider.

I am against this proposed change in the service agreement:


   - *Pricing for Domain Name Registrations and Registry Services (Section
   2.10 of the .org renewal agreement):* In alignment with the base
   registry agreement, the price cap provisions in the current .org agreement,
   which limited the price of registrations and allowable price increases for
   registrations, are removed from the .org renewal agreement. Protections for
   existing registrants will remain in place, in line with the base registry
   agreement. This change will not only allow the .org renewal agreement to
   better conform with the base registry agreement, but also takes into
   consideration the maturation of the domain name market and the goal of
   treating the Registry Operator equitably with registry operators of new
   gTLDs and other legacy gTLDs utilizing the base registry agreement

Thanks,
Antoine
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