[registrars] Re: ICANN fees

[Rick Wesson]

to be clear you are not approving the budget, you have no say in the budget approval process.

you are being asked to commit that you will pay your portion of the fees, if you do not commit, ICANN will get them from the registries.

specificly you are being asked if you will pay or ICANN should make the registries pay.

-rick

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 15:37:10 -0400
"Jason Hendeles" <jason at icmregistry.com> wrote:

> 
> Monte & Elana-
> 
> I for one see no reason at this time to approve any increase in fees.
> 
> I don't see how any of these increases benefit our constituency in any way.
> Damaging Verisign's wild card sitefinder service or Verisign's desire to
> explore new revenue opportunities does not in any way benefit the registrar
> constituency or my bottom line as a registrar, so who cares if sitefinder
> has been dismantled?
> 
> It's time we send ICANN a clear message that we need new revenue
> opportunities in order to justify any increase in fees.  The last time ICANN
> did anything positive for our constituency was when they authorized the
> creation of new domains for the registrars to market.  That was almost 3
> years ago.  Since that time they have aggressively undermined our ability to
> succeed.  Between WLS and the increased fees, ICANN has continued to
> undermine our constituency.
> 
> I think the registrars should take this opportunity to apply pressure to
> ICANN to open up the process for releasing new domain names and, or allow
> the registrar constituency to negotiate a way to revenue share with
> Verisign's wildcard service.
> 
> I think that we should regect any increase until something tangible is given
> back to our constituency.
> 
> Jason Hendeles
> A Technology Company, Inc.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Monte Cahn [mailto:monte at moniker.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 2:12 PM
> To: 'Elana Broitman'; registrars at boardrooms.org
> Cc: registrars at dnso.org
> Subject: RE: ICANN fees
> Importance: High
> 
> 
> I would encourage others to speak up NOW about this issue as it is one
> of the most important issues on the table!
> 
> Monte Cahn
> Founder/CEO
> 
> Monte at Moniker.com
> Monte at DomainSystems.com
> 
> O - 954-984-8445
> F - 954-969-9155
> 
> Moniker.com - ICANN Accredited Corporate Domain Management Services
> DomainSystems.com - Domain Sales & After-market Services
> CoolHandle.com - World Class Hosting and Email Solutions
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Monte Cahn [mailto:monte at moniker.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 11:26 AM
> To: 'Elana Broitman'; registrars at boardrooms.org
> Cc: registrars at dnso.org; eric at moniker.com
> Subject: RE: ICANN fees
> Importance: High
> 
> 
> Hello Elana,
> 
> >From what I understand, there were many against this fee increase and
> those concerns were discussed openly at the last meeting.  I think the
> most compelling point made was that none of us would accept such a
> dramatic expenditure increase in our own businesses, why would we
> approve one through ICANN?  This increase dramatically effects the
> little margins we have left in domain registrations.
> 
> The fact that ICANN FINALLY sent a cease and desist letter to VeriSign
> for Sitefinder was not only 2 weeks overdue, it is also their
> responsibility to regulate such actions which jeopardize the internet
> infrastructure.  This delay allowed VeriSign profit in the tune of $4
> Million per day while Sitefinder was live.  Many feel that we may all be
> entitled to a portion of these proceeds.  The fee increase is not to be
> treated like a reward for good performance - it is their job to perform.
> I also find that their handling of WLS is good reason to hold them even
> more accountable in the future and restrict increases until they act
> responsibly on behalf of all of our organizations.
> 
> I feel we can demonstrate support by sending a clear message of concern
> for past performance and not approve the full fee increase being
> requested.  It is important that we set a precedent not to approve the
> full increase.  The question is what increase do we approve or provide
> our opinion on and the best way to structure our message.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Monte Cahn
> Founder/CEO
> 
> Monte at Moniker.com
> Monte at DomainSystems.com
> 
> O - 954-984-8445
> F - 954-969-9155
> 
> Moniker.com - ICANN Accredited Corporate Domain Management Services
> DomainSystems.com - Domain Sales & After-market Services CoolHandle.com
> - World Class Hosting and Email Solutions
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Elana Broitman [mailto:ebroitman at register.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 10:41 AM
> To: registrars at boardrooms.org
> Cc: registrars at dnso.org
> Subject: ICANN fees
> 
> 
> Dear all - as you may recall from our meeting in Marina del Rey and our
> conference call several weeks ago, ICANN accredited registrars must vote
> to accept payment of the variable accreditation fee for the fiscal year
> of July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004 (Section 3.9.2 of the Registrar
> Accreditation Agreement).   Registrars accounting, in the aggregate, for
> payment of two-thirds of all registrar-level fees, must approve the fees
> in order for ICANN to collect them from registrars.  If we do not do so,
> ICANN may, under its contracts with the registries, collect them
> directly from the registries.
> 
> As per our discussions, many in the constituency believed that we should
> send a letter to ICANN setting out our concerns and goals when approving
> such fees.  Attached is a draft letter proposed by the Executive
> Committee.  As you can see, while it contains a set of concerns and
> deliverables, it ultimately provides for approval of the variable fee.
> I, for one, believe that ICANN has recently proven its willingness and
> ability to effectively monitor agreements and respond to concerns (e.g.,
> Site Finder).  This is the time to both demonstrate our support for
> ICANN and ensure that we remain a vital part of the organization by
> being the ones primarilly responsible for fees.
> 
> Please signal to ICANN your approval of the fee collection by sending in
> this letter or otherwise contacting Dan Halloran and Diane Schroeder at
> halloran at icann.org and schroeder at icann.org.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Elana Broitman
> 
> 
>