To whom it may concern, I remember buying a subdomain from someone when I was 13 years old for $20 with a check to a po box, because a domain name registration was $150.  Shortly after, we democratized domains and made them affordable for people trying to start businesses and hobbies online.  Ever since then, I have been making a living online and helping other companies and individuals from mom and pops to fortune 500's realize their vision. We should be looking at removing barriers to entry, not adding them.  This price increase is unjustified and is happening too soon after the .org arrangement.  We should be using the .org arrangement as a test ground and see what happens over the next 5 years.  We should learn from it - was it a good deal?  Did it result in unjustified price hikes?  Was spending justified and transparent? Instead it seems that instead of reviewing that model, ICANN would rather jump the gun and provide un-tethered control to a third party company that is motivated by profits. I am against the proposed changes. Thank you, Brian Essig Creating Digital LLC http://www.creatingdigital.com bessig@creatingdigital.com 201-475-1288 (p) 201-616-7077 (f)