Good morning. I am a freelance artist/small business owner of SteckelFX LLC, whose website is steckelfx.com. My website is very important to my business, as it acts as both a resume, and a point of reference for my customers. I am very much against the proposed amendment regarding .com pricing. The suggested change that an increase of 7% each year for 4 years, a 2 year freeze, and then a repeat of the cycle with no end or cap in sight is both terrifying and disappointing to me. Terrifying because many freelancer's fiscal situation is tenuous at best, and the prospect of one necessary component (among many other necessary parts) of our livelihood skyrocketing to astronomical and unnecessary proportions fills me with dread, and that makes me disappointed. It disappoints me that the internet, possibly the greatest human invention ever, that thing which connects the world, is having a large portion of it put into a stranglehold. A stranglehold that is the first step to this wonderful source of information being smothered and controlled by only those with the pocketbooks to do so. I understand that a price increase on a simple domain name may be small, but it is a small step towards the giant leap of the fall of the original idea of the internet. The internet has already been twisted by greed and corruption, whose repercussions are difficult for the common user to avoid (case in point, I'm sending this from a google account). I implore you to not aid in this. The complete lack of transparency of why you are receiving 20 MILLION dollars, and furthermore how that money will be spent by you, is worrisome. Please take a moment to put yourself in our shoes, and see how this looks. It looks like a bribe by a powerful corporate entity. It looks like you can be bought. I'm not accusing you of this, but I ask that you think about how it looks. I am disheartened by these actions that you have taken, and it does not paint a good picture of the future. I have taken the time to write you these comments, even though I doubt that you will take them into consideration. As was shown when the price-caps were removed from .org, .info, and .biz Top Level Domains. When over 3500 people in your community are against an action-- when less than .001% of them support the price cap removal-- it is hard to believe that you have an interest in what we the people have to say when you appear to ignore our voice. It wounds us that you removed those pricecaps based primarily on a *biased preliminary* analysis that did not reference any data. Where is the sense or logic in that? Once again I implore you to reconsider this amendment, for your own image if not for the ethical and moral well-being of the internet. Sincerely, Steckel Bleier -- SteckelFX LLC -- Your client and a member of the ICANN community