Fight ICANNS Plans

Ok,

what I read today on KenMcarthy Blog is truly crazy, I mean how we small business -website guys gonna survive?

I dunno how that is legal,

To give a real example:

You own slashdot.org. On its own, the domain was worthless. But after years of work, the domain itself is worth a lot. The .org registrar, realizing how important the domain is, says that you must pay $10,000.

It does *not* matter if you have a TM on it or not. At the most, a TM will mean no one else can buy it. But if they want, they can (and oooh .... you better believe they will) charge you as much as they can get away with.

and all the personal websites?

They can't possibly go through with it, at least that's what I'm thinking,

however KenMcarthy sees otherwise

you might care if when you domain name comes up for renewal, the charge is $1,000, or $10,000 - or whatever the market can bare.

After that I was all ears, ( *eyes )

he put down a short action plan for what you should do in case you care about yoru domains

Here's what we need to do:

1. Go to the ICANN web page that discusses this:

http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-28jul06.htm

2. Compose a letter that opposes the variable pricing of domain names and send it to each of the three e-mail addresses listed on the web page - for .org, .info, and .biz

3. If you need ideas of things to write, just read the comments that others have posted which are on the page.

4. If you are a business owner who uses the web, let them know that you are and that you oppose this radical change to the domain system.

5. The key phrase is variable pricing, so at a minimum put something like "No to variable pricing" or "Opposed to variable pricing" in the subject line.

In the body add something like "As a small business owner who has made a considerable investment in developing the domain names I own, I am firmly opposed to the variable pricing of domain names by the .org registry." And then send a separate note for .biz and .info.

The posting information is all here:

http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-28jul06.htm

Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Some of us are working to try to extend the public comment period, but don't count on getting a second shot at going on the record.

Variable pricing of domains by the registries is a terrible idea for web site owners.

ICANN and Verisign enjoy government granted monopolies. The current system - which works fine and serves the Internet community - should be kept as it is.

Please everybody, just in case that is not some sick joke, write an hate-the-idea email to ICANN, if that would go through it would mean the sure death to internet as we know it.

I'll include some links from the blogosphere, and ICANN

To:

Subject: Statement in Support of Renewal gTLD Agreement for .biz

From: "Gomes, Chuck"

Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 19:54:18 -0400

Ensuring the continued security and stability of its infrastructure is

critical to the continued growth of the Internet. That is why VeriSign

supports the proposed new registry agreement for .biz. The agreement

closely mirrors the model registry agreements that ICANN has already

used or proposed for .com, .info, .mobi, .net, and .org.

These agreements strike the important balance between protecting

Internet users and providing registry operators with the incentives and

flexibility to continue to invest in the Internet infrastructure. They

also create a level playing field for all the registries.

Chuck Gomes

VeriSign Information Services

cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx

VeriSign(r)--------------Where it all comes together.(tm)