Hi. I'm a registrant of a number of .com domains and someone very familiar with how monopolies work. As the .com TLD is the largest TLD and most recognizable by customers, it's imperative that there continue to be competition among registrars that offer .com domains. I heard about this change to the rules regarding .com domain names, and I want to strongly urge ICANN to discontinue this deal. Not only is it undemocratic, having been negotiated behind closed doors without any press, but the rules changes are potentially EXTREMELY bad for registrants. We already know there is an issue today with digital marketplaces finding ways to compete directly against the things they're selling, and since they're closer to the source with less middle-men involved, they can often bully the original makers out of the market. This happens on Amazon.com all the time and with other retailers as well. I bring this up, because the changes proposed over how Verisign will be allowed to operate smell an awful lot like this practice. Verisign, as effectively the digital wholesaler/platform, should not, under any circumstances, be allowed to create a registrar to compete directly with other registrars offering the .com domains. This is a MASSIVE conflict of interest. Further, while I understand the deal is likely very appealing to ICANN due to the $25M in funding attached to it, I strongly urge ICANN to consider the cost of that money. It's plainly a bribe to get ICANN to allow Verisign to increase their prices (without any real justification) and engage in monopolistic behavior. In conclusion, following through on this proposal would be incredibly harmful to the health of the internet and the ability for registrants like myself to freely and affordably register .com domains from the registrants of my choice. Please reject this proposal and find another way to gather additional funding for ICANN. Thanks you. -- Millan Singh, Polymath writer, designer, and developer. Webdev by day, practitioner of the hero's journey by night. My podcast: http://anchor.fm/spyfy My website: https://millansingh.com/ <http://millansingh.com/>