Greetings, I have been using the internet basically since its introduction to the public. The value it has brought is through the democratization of knowledge, information, and more. If there is one thing that history has taught us is that the moment one person, one company, one organization, to claim too much control, too much power, that democratization is, at best, put in jeopardy. By enabling VeriSign to have such control... and the ability to increase prices as they see fit... they become a limiting factor to those of us who which to have a site with a .COM domain. I have such a site. I don’t make money from it, but it is a way for me to share my work, my passion, my dreams, with others. Unlike in the old days, we have to by a number of domains just to protect ourselves and our identity. If such prices were enacted, I could be priced out of owning some or all of those domains. Controls that limit such actions must be implemented. This deal should not happen. ICANN has a responsibility to all of us in keeping the Internet open and accessible to everyone who wants to have a website. In this case, by not making this deal, and by putting protections in place to prevent such deals and such moves to gain unfair control over the Internet. Regards, Michael Brodt