As an older user of the Internet and early domain registrant, I remember the days of $70-$100 domains.

I'd thought we had gotten passed that until the .org fiasco last year.

And now ICANN wishes to bring that type of suspicious behavior to the .com registrations.

I oppose Amendment 3 on two grounds:

1. The amendment does not specify what the $20 million given to ICANN will be used.  It speaks generally of upgrades, security, protection, etc.  But what guarantee do we, the ones actually subsidizing this $20 million as its laundered through the hands of Verisign, have that there will actually be infrastructure upgrades and what they are? How do we not know this isn't a new $20 million slush fund for ICANN? Or a $20 million bribe to agree to the new deal?

Unless the specific upgrades are set out, with full transparency with regards to the spending of the $20 million then Amendment 3 should not be adopted.

2.  The price increase for a technology-related item comes as the cost of most technology commodities decreases.  What additional costs are there for Verisign associated with a single domain registration to justify the increase from $7.85 to $10.26 by 2024 and then to 13.42 by 2032? Did the cost to manage bits and bytes suddenly increase?

Unless Verisign can show the value-add for the cost increases, then Amendment 3 should not be adopted. They operate as a vendor for ICANN which operates with permission from the US Department of Commerce. Everything should be transparent and out in the open. 

Stephen Feather

Feather Direct, LLC