Read Ken McCarthy’s latest blog post titled “Domain name madness”.


Ken McCarthy’s latest blog post is reprinted here.

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Domain Name Madness

Domain name madness…

Some people worry about the power of Google.

There’s only one force on the Internet that I worry about and that’s…

The institutions that control the domain name system.

Why? Because they have the power to change the domain name rules radically.

Who cares? 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.

That’s impossible, right? Not only is in not impossible, but ICANN – the domain regulation entity that controls .org, .info and .biz – has a proposal on the table right now that make such prices possible.

If they get away with it, you can be sure that Verisign which controls the .com domains will not be far behind.

I only just learned about this from my colleagues Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu late last night and the public comment period ends today.

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.

Ken McCarthy
Ken McCarthy’s Blog
System Video Blog
The System Blog

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Ken McCarthy for granting permission to reprint the latest blog article.

 

 

 

 

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