Could we send a statement to the board...

Some have argued the increase was trivial, given people's intuition of adjustments for inflation, etc., and also with a sense that prices were stable for a period (after the initial decline).  As you would gather from my prior post, its pretty much nonsense (computing and teleconnectivity costs should be going down, down down). 

The material on price increases well in advance of the actual increase taking effect is disgusting and disturbing.  They appear to be taking a page from the Oil cartels. 

Again, referencing the gentleman from Tucows...  exclusive contracts were won in part by expectations of price decreases.

At-Large should have some strong words on this matter for the Board of Directors, however, there is a sense that we are supposed to build up our credibility through "productivity" first.

Could we send a statement to the board reporting these increases to the Internet Community, as Danny indicates, well in advance of the official date... and echoing the sentiment that good stewardship demands better?

On 7/8/07, Danny Younger <dannyyounger@yahoo.com > wrote:

Re:  The small increase may seem trivial, but the

principle is more important.

The price increase (which won't go into effect until

October 15) is not trivial -- registrars are already

raising their prices in anticipation of the price

increase:

"AIT Domains says that under the promotion all domain

names will cost $6.49 until July 6. However, due to

recently announced price increases from ICANN, AIT

Domains says it's being forced to raise its prices.

Rates are currently scheduled to go up to $8.49 per

registration year on July 9."

http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/070307_AIT_Holds_Fourth_of_July_Special.cfm

What's more important than all of this is the issue of

bad decision-making on the part of the unaccountable

ICANN Board.  The Internet community has no way of

"throwing the bums out" because ICANN remains

accountable to no one.

Until this problem is solved it really doesn't much

matter what the community consensus is on the AGP or

anything else... ICANN remains free to ignore the

voice of the people.

Presently, ICANN profits from the consequences of

domain tasting... the more names that are tasted, the

more names that will eventually be registered as some

of these names can successfully be monetized.  Profits

for the registries, profits for the registrars,

profits for ICANN... there were about 16 million new

registrations last year (a good chunk of them the

direct result of tasting activities).

Don't expect to prevail on this issue without putting

up a spectacular fight and screaming for action at

every opportunity -- convincing a corporation to kill

a lucrative cash cow can only be an uphill battle.

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---------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Director, CTCNet Chicago Chapter
Co-Founder, Chicago Digital Access Alliance
Co-Chair, Illinois Community Technology Coalition
President, Association For Community Networking

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