Domain Name Rights Coalition

So if you were smart enough and had enough vision to get your domain name at the beginning the advent of the Internet turned commerce boom, you may lose your name anyway if the registrars suddenly decide to charge you more because your name is cooler than someone else's. And who does that benefit? Not small businesses or individuals...

ICANN Confirms: Tiered Pricing Not Forbidden in New .BIZ, .INFO and .ORG Contracts:


I finally got the "official" word from Vint Cerf of ICANN, "on the record", who confirmed that my interpretation is correct, that differential/tiered pricing on a domain-by-domain basis would not be forbidden under the .biz/info/org proposed contracts. This means that the registries could charge $100,000/yr for sex.biz, $25,000/yr for movies.org, etc. if they wanted to -- it would not be forbidden the way the proposed contracts are currently written. This would represent a powerful pricing weapon for registries, and a fundamental shift in possible domain name pricing, that could lead them to emulate .tv-style price schedules. It doesn't mean they will necessarily do it, but it's not forbidden. When a contract doesn't forbid something bad, it implicitly allows it... more...

Posted by mikki at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oy Vey!:

I heard a really good one!  ICANN is asking for "comments" about how they could improve their web site!

Have you ever heard anything so nutz?  I mean, ICANN, has created yet another "forum" so that we can "discuss" ideas - this time about their web site!  Wouldn't 'cha think that sometimes they might actually use their web site to tell us something - like promptly telling us what happened during those telephone meetings of the board?  Do they really need a "forum" for that?!

We don't need no stinkin' forums!

ICANN has a very bad habit of believing that it has to create playpens for people to discuss ideas.  Well thank you ICANN, but we are perfectly capable of creating our own forums - we've had 'em for years.

ICANN's website should be a means for ICANN to publish information, like audio recordings of board phone meetings or timely postings of minutes.

The last thing we need is yet another ICANN managed gathering place.  Didn't ICANN learn from the failed ALAC that people don't like to be herded like sheep and forced to perform on ICANN's stage?  (Yes, I know its a mixed metaphor.)

(By-the-way, ICANN doesn't seem to have noticed that the community of internet users has ignored ICANN's over-managed ALAC in droves.)

So ICANN - please give up trying to make your website into a Disneyland of forums and interactive aids.  Instead please recognize that the purpose of your website is to herald timely information about what ICANN is doing.  We will be discussing it - but not on your website.

Posted by mikki at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)