Dear Team,

As an internet user and .com owner, I am deeply disturbed by this proposal.  The fact that ICANN will enter into an arrangement under which, a second party will be given permission to increase prices whenever they want for the .COM domain and ICANN will receive $20m from that party is scandalous and smacks deeply of corporate corruption.

The fact that two companies get to decide this outcome is a disgrace.  In my opinion, this should be decided by an independent review body with time for public consultation after the review bodies recommendations, through an organisation like Change.org or similar.  At least that way, hundreds of millions of internet users both private and business would have some say in the outcome.

Non Profit organisations should not be making a profit from public good, this looks deeply unethical from ICANN.  From the outset you have argued that DNS is a public service for good.

Lastly, why do you need a third party in all of this? Why cannot ICANN receive these payments directly and transparently, if you need to raise funds?

This feels a bit like your .COM users are being used as cash cows without any say in the matter, in effect a stealth tax!

Perhaps it's time to review how you plan to do this in a more balanced and less dictatorial way.

Kind regards

Andy Martin