Dear ICANN Committee, I run a small software development business, and own approximately 30 domain names. Every year I have to pay not only for the domain name, but also the privacy protection piece, and the payments always seem to come at a time when I can barely afford it. Hiking the .com domain prices will have a negative impact on my business, so I am against the proposed price increase to .COM domains. Looking at the situation, and from what I have read, no one other than Verisign wants to increase the .COM prices. I feel like the current base rate of $7.85 is already far more than justified, and that Verisign, as manager of the .COM Registry - has no business dictating the price. ICANN is supposed to govern the domain name system in the public interest and keeping the prices at their current level is in the public interest. Regards, Sean Esterhuizen Worktrainer Software Misenheimer, North Carolina, United States