Dear ICANN, please consider this: Today I heard that you are making a deal with Verisign Inc. regarding the sale of of .com's. And that this deal is going to increase the cost of .coms over the next year by more than 70%. We all know that .com's are the TLD to buy, and that using something else makes it confusing for users to access and thus for businesses to gain traction. If the prices get raised like this basically what is going to happen is a large segment of people are going to get pushed out of being able to afford to purchase .com domains. They will be forced to buy other TLD's that don't perform as well for them. These people that can't afford are going to be the up and coming entrepreneurs from places like developing countries of which the world REALLY needs right now. Few people in the US will be affected. But this move totally goes against the principles of an *open and accessible internet*. If it is your intention to keep a level playing field for all people online then I urge you to repeal this decision. I help families build business online. Often times it starts with a simple beautiful idea, maybe it's a family selling seeds online that come from the farm in Indonesia, or a Mom that makes textiles from her house in Mexico. They can barely afford to pay for domain and hosting services for the business. But they're doing it and the businesses are growing. If the costs go up on the domain side, that would become a barrier into which many would give up before even getting started because of the financial strain. Accessibility matters, I hope that you really think through how this price increase will affect accessibility for all people around the world. with gratitude, *Jaclyn Hawtin* Managing Partner, Digital Dames jaclyn@digitaldames.io | digitaldames.io *Empowering entrepreneurs through technology * *This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.*