The backlash over Verisign raising prices was picked up by a publication outside the domain industry.
ArsTechnica.com published a piece today that highlighted the concerns from registrars. The article discussed the potential for Verisign to make an additional $500 million per year.
It also honed in on price caps.
From the article:
While ICANN has eliminated price caps on .org and most other top-level domains, it doesn’t currently have the option to do that for .com. That’s because ICANN and Verisign’s oversight of the .com domain is itself overseen by the US Department of Commerce. Indeed, ICANN argues that it is merely complying with the wishes of the Department of Commerce, which authorized ICANN to raise the price caps by 7 percent annually back in 2018. ICANN would need approval from the Commerce Department to institute larger increases than the ones that have already been announced.
There are 47 comments on the article. The best one in my opinion was this one:
Why exactly does verisign need to increase fees? Have costs for running a registry suddenly increased? Is there an increased risk of nobody wanting dotcom domains anymore (other than from their increased prices?)
Do they give any reason, or is it just completely transparent ‘Screw you, the return on the investment of bribing a bunch of ICANN-officials was higher than the cost.’ ?
Also does ICANN have an office and is there a torches-and-pitchforks shop anywhere close to it?
Endgadget also published a piece on the price hike today:
https://www.engadget.com/2020/02/11/icann-verisign-com-price-changes/
EXCELLENT QUESTIONS
The problem is they don’t care to respond nor they feel they need to respond
This questions have to be asked in FULL PAGE in the NYT, Washington Post etc.
We need to raise all possible flags and NOW.
We need to start a petition to THE WHITE HOUSE
Things to highlight during the comment period, folks:
1. Legacy TLDs are a *public trust*. They are not “owned” by anyone or anything, not even ICANN.
2. As has been so well pointed out by others before, there is no justification for continual price increases, and if there was any concern about maximizing value for the world, competitive bidding for managing .com would already have resulted in FAR lower prices to begin with.
3. Ergo, .com is not supposed to be treated like a license to print money for greedy corporations at the expense of the entire world.
4. And this one most “domainers” can’t relate to, but it’s true:
Having and using *many* domains is NOT just what “domainers” do. It is also the legitimate business model of end users who do things that way, as well as even just for business-necessary defensive registration. It’s certainly what I do as an end user first by a mile, domain investor/occasional seller only second. A distant second in fact.
5. Regardless of #4 even: the price of even 1 single domain makes a difference to the world in terms of equality and affordability of opportunity. It can either be conducive to or DISINCENTIVISE the very kind of innovation and societal benefit that exists in the world through publishing and entrepreneurship. The idea that “a business owner won’t care about going from $15 to $30” and remarks to that affect are nothing but nonsense with regard to the big picture. It’s not just about people who already are in business or are publishing.
That same public doesn’t want a domain investor selling them a domain for $1,000 – $5,000 – $50,000. Nice try. You making money off domains is not more honorable than Verisign. Put the contract out for bid, whatever but don’t pretend like domain investors are doing a public service.
If you can’t afford $30 to register a domain name you should not be in business. As far as people holding onto 1000’s that’s a different story risks accrue in every business. Can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.
@Seeattle:
That’s a bullsh*t specious statement. The world as we know it with all it’s benefits – and make no mistake, it’s going to end abruptly anyway – is as beneficial as it is now despite all the corruption because, among other reasons, once upon a time the little guy and the common man was incentivized instead of disincentivized to get into business cheaply and affordably, including more cheaply than you have decided to allow to be reasonable. And try as the PTB might to make it untrue, the registration and use of something as simple as a domain name is a major and important part of that. And these days, you have even worse and ever worsening low wage slavery and working poverty.
That’s your belief about ending abruptly and if you believe that why the fuck are you on a domain blog?
I have been online since 91 and no I don’t believe any of you should make money off hoarding domain names. So as the little guy I don’t believe you have any right to hold domain names hostage. You all lucked out that Postel and Lee didn’t create a system that prevented that.
Little Man – exactly what part of me writing about how I use them as a business person in the course and model of my business did you not understand? Or do only the mega-billion dollar corporations that get to buy policy, politicians, legislation and backroom deals to take over legacy TLD’s for their own gain get to have large numbers of domain names in your world view?
It’s not a matter of that, of course $30 not a big deal, many real business have been paying Net Sol that for years. I sold a domain once and the person wanted it transferred there, I said really? They were like, “We love network solutions do you know Matt?” I was like ok.
The point is domain investing is not illegal and there is no reason for $30 regs when they can be $10 to $12.
You do make a valid point with regards to the public, I have to go back and find the site but basically people were looking for domain investors to be taken out, not of business but from life. Once you step outside the domain bubble, no one wants to hear what a domain owner has to say. The kindest term domainers are being called is rent seeker, which is better than squatter, hoarder, mf’er, scumbag.
@Raymond:
Well thanks for acknowledging my point about the public. As for mentioning the “domain bubble” – that has been part of all of my points all along for years in these blog comments now. I, as in me, yours truly, am not just in the “domain bubble” the way most domainers are. I’ve been saying it for years now and perhaps I need to say it again: I’m an end user first, domainer second. And it’s been getting to be a more and more distant second with each passing year. My primary perspective is that of an end user, a business person, someone looking to do business and earn income with domain names, not just sell or flip. Most of my regs are not listed, and most are either for traffic to an end use site, defensive, or deployed for end use sites themselves.
As for what people have been led to believe about domain owners, that is 9 parts propaganda and 1 part real domainers behaving badly. Propaganda works, that’s the problem, and it has to be countered – with truth. Just like with the two sides of the fake left/right, blue/red, liberal/conservative “establishment” duopoly.
@VR:
You are full of crap. I am not pretending any such thing. That’s called a straw man. There is no nice try. That public who doesn’t like people making money from domain names has been influenced by a bunch of disgruntled cry babies crying in their ear. Media has a way of enabling that. The truth is that same public really *does* want the little guy and the common man to have such opportunities. Those people who make money now were once the little guy – same as themselves. What they *don’t* want are big mega-billion dollar corporations being able to buy and write policy, legislation and politicians, and turn a public resource and public trust into their own private money printing scheme with real consequences.
The only one full of crap is you.
Let’s calm that down, comments just going to get deleted. This nonsense adds nothing.
Don’t feed trolls
Remember when companies used to care about what customers thought or felt? These days, they don’t care and blatantly do whatever they feel like. It’s disgusting.
Your not Verisign’s customer.
Let me just say right now the language, off topic and ad hominem attacks are going to stop, so hope you got it out of your systems, when comments get deleted don’t ask why.
Well Raymond I must say – it seems I just burned “Little Man” rather well up above for the cause if I can say so myself, and without even transgressing any standards and decorum.