I’m opposed to the proposed amendment No. 3 to the .COM Registry Agreement. I’ve contributed to the development of the Worldwide Web since 1991 as a software developer and journalist and I’ve owned domain names since 1994. The Internet has become a major force in global society based on a model of non-governmental, non-commercial governance of key protocols and supporting institutions. Amendment 3 is a massive step away from the established (and successful) governance of the Internet toward a system that provides exclusive benefit to limited commercial stakeholders. It is inappropriate for ICANN as stewards of the domain name system to provide favorable commercial terms to Verisign. The close relationship between Verisign and ICANN invites corruption and abuse of stewardship. Increases in .COM fees that benefit Verisign’s shareholders are unhealthy for the larger Internet community and violate the principles on which the Internet was established. -- Daniel Kehoe daniel@danielkehoe.com