Last month, ICANN announced significant changes to the contract it has with Verisign, Inc. who operate the .COM top-level-domain (TLD).

ICANN made these changes in secret, without consulting or incorporating feedback from the ICANN community or Internet users. This is not a new behavior for ICANN, but it is no less reprehensible.

These changes in pricing affect users for years to come. ICANN will receive $20 million, but we have no disclosure of how this money will benefit users or support the domain infrastructure. This is a sweetheart deal that punishes consumers.

William Beem