April 2019 - comments-org-renewal-18mar19@icann.org

[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Unrestricted potential for price increases for .org domain registrants
by Chris Kalb April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I believe that the majority of .org domains are registered and owned by not for profit organization, clubs, social groups and families and unrestricted price increases could cause an undue burden on these organizations that are not typically focused on registration for the sake of facilitating profit generation. This could cause a dramatic shift of funds to the internet society and from thousands of small organizations or worse yet cause some of these registrants to give up their domains decreasing the effectiveness, visibility, and operations in general. At this most basic level significant and unrestricted internet registration fees encourage a shift from an open and equitable access environment to one where only those with greater levels of funds can participate. This feels like a step that opens the door for diminished access and control of internet content to the wealthy or profit driven registrants. I don't think that's a safe door to open and want to see an accessible and democratic internet. I am also quoting another comment with which I strongly agree below: "ICANN staff should not unilaterally impose URS in legacy TLDs when that issue is precisely what is being examined by the volunteer ICANN Working Group who has been mandated to review this issue. ICANN policy making is supposed to be a ‘bottom up, multi-stakeholder model’. I believe that legacy gTLDs are fundamentally different from for-profit new gTLDs. Legacy TLDs are essentially a public trust, unlike new gTLDs which were created, bought and paid for by private interests. Registrants of legacy TLDs are entitled to price stability and predictability, and should not be subject to price increases with no maximums. Unlike new gTLDs, registrants of legacy TLDs registered their names and made their online presence on legacy TLDs on the basis that price caps would continue to exist. Unrestrained price increases on the millions of .org registrants who are not-for-profits or non-profits would be unfair to them. Unchecked price increases have the potential to result in hundreds of millions of dollars being transferred from these organizations to one non-profit, the Internet Society, with .org registrants receiving no benefit in return. ICANN should not allow one non-profit nearly unlimited access to the funds of other non-profits" Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] In regards to price increase
by The Baked Cat April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I have a .org site. It's a non-profit. I run a few ads to try and help with income, but I have received none. No help. The purpose of my website, is to challenge people to think for themselves. To supply actual information that is not twisted to the will of one political party, or in favor of anything. I try to focus on facts, and truth, while adding humor to brighten peoples days. If you believe you can trust everything that comes out of CNN, why not jack their prices up for being completely off the mark, and their efforts for dividing our country further. This affects me more than some. As I stated I'm a non-profit .org. Again my mission is to spread truth, or to awaken people to false realities and guide them to truth. No matter how crazy of a manner I find to do so. I take in 0 dollars, I pay for everything. There are a lot of other people just like me, that are trying to help change the world for the better. Why would you even think of punishing people trying to do the right thing. I can understand if some methods or material may upset certain people. The truth is still the truth, an eye or a mind open to think for themselves is in itself priceless. Ever since ICANN took over, things have gotten worse. I've seen (from doing marketing and sales in the past) a massive drop in framework for anyone to try and earn. Social media blackouts of accounts, social media shadow banning accounts, google tanks search results after months of leading with keywords and solid foundation built. I've been shafted by every Tech giant out there. I maintain on my own. These companies that I speak of are doing more damage than they are good. Perhaps you should look into them. Rather than trying to harm those that are trying to help. Would you rather have your neighbors help you out in a time of emergency, or is your aim much like this, where your neighbors you have no problems causing life to be more difficult. The web is a free space of information, ideas, and a superb means of communication. Leave the net free. Leave the net alone. The Baked Cat

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Jim Yoshioka April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Please do not remove the price cap for .org domain name registries. I represent a number of educational and social nonprofit organizations who rely on having an .org domain name to publicize our organizations’ information, events, and activities on our websites. Our budget for each organization is small, so price increases for domain names would have a large impact. In order to continue our work to benefit education and the greater public good, we ask that the price caps be continued. Jim Yoshioka Membership Vice-President, Hawai‘i Association of Language Teachers Treasurer, Blazing Saddles Hawai‘i

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Price increase on .orgs
by Rachel Kay April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I was made aware of theses changes today and do not think that the price increase should apply to .orgs. My organization for example is a nonprofit and we try to keep overhead costs as low as possible in order to use our funding for our cause. I would urge you to reconsider the price increase to .orgs specifically.

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] .org Domain Cap
by Nathan L Krause April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I am requesting that the cap which limits the annual increase on the cost of .org domains remain in effect. Removing it would very likely create unbearable financial strain on small organizations, which are the primary registrants of .org domains. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Rodney Waschka April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I am a .org registrant. ICANN staff should not unilaterally impose URS in legacy TLDs when that issue is precisely what is being examined by the volunteer ICANN Working Group who has been mandated to review this issue. ICANN policy making is supposed to be a ‘bottom up, multi-stakeholder model’. I believe that legacy gTLDs are fundamentally different from for-profit new gTLDs. Legacy TLDs are essentially a public trust, unlike new gTLDs which were created, bought and paid for by private interests. Registrants of legacy TLDs are entitled to price stability and predictability, and should not be subject to price increases with no maximums. Unlike new gTLDs, registrants of legacy TLDs registered their names and made their online presence on legacy TLDs on the basis that price caps would continue to exist. Unrestrained price increases on the millions of .org registrants who are not-for-profits or non-profits would be unfair to them. Unchecked price increases have the potential to result in hundreds of millions of dollars being transferred from these organizations to one non-profit, the Internet Society, with .org registrants receiving no benefit in return. ICANN should not allow one non-profit nearly unlimited access to the funds of other non-profits. ICANN appears to be entirely catering to registries by removing price caps. ICANN should stand up for the public interest and registrants!

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] increasing fees for .org domains
by SRV Associations April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Dear Friends, Our 501c3 organization operates on a budget of under $150,000 annually. Most years, we struggle to make ends meet in order to fulfill our mission and maintain centers of worship and teachings. .org domains are for charitable purposes and missions. It is a great disservice to the spirit of service in our country, to those who donate to the missions of these organizations that serve selflessly for the benefit of so many different people and communities. Please reconsider this plan to turn .org domains into a profit stream. Sincerely, Leigh Anne Gurtov President, SRV Associations www.srv.org <http://www.srv.org> www.srvvedanta.org <http://www.srvvedanta.org> "Spiritual knowledge is the only thing that can destroy our miseries forever; any other knowledge satisfies wants only for a time" - Swami Vivekananda Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda - SRV Associations Setting the feet of humanity on the path of universal Truth PO Box 1364 | Honoka'a HI 96727 <mailto:srvinfo@srv.org> srvinfo(a)srv.org <> <http://www.srv.org/> www.srv.org <> <tel:808-990-3354> 808-990-3354

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Henry Longmore April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

As a .org domain name registrant, I am concerned about the proposed changes for the .org Registry Agreement. The proposed agreement would remove the price cap provisions in the current agreement. Ostensibly, this change is to "allow the .org renewal agreement to better conform with the base registry agreement" as well as "[treat] the Registry Operator equitably with registry operators of new gTLDs and other legacy gTLDs utilizing the base registry agreement." If we consider the current domain name usage for .com (hear me out, this applies to .org) domains as described at https://singaporedatacompany.com/blog/how-many-domain-names-are-unused, we see that GoDaddy is by far the leader of .com domain name registration, at 33%. The nearest individual competitor has 5.3%.Removing GoDaddy from the top ten, the other nine account for 32%, and the remaining 1,841 registrars account for 35%. If this data can be extrapolated to .org domains, as the action of removing the price cap would seem to indicate, it only serves to keep the dominant, dominant, while the others, who try to remain competitive by keeping the registration costs as low as possible, may well lose their competitive edge, as they will be charged more and have margins and volumes too low to support absorbing the cost themselves. In my opinion it is a mistake to remove the price caps. Perhaps it would be sufficient to treat the .org Registry Operator more equitably, with a change in the structure or amount of the price caps? Sincerely, Henry Longmore

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] (no subject)
by Leigh Bracken April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

To whom it may concern, I would simply like to ask that sound wisdom and judgement be used when considering the prospect of making a decision that affects those entities that are working so hard, and in a lot of cases to help others. Often this is done at a great financial sacrifice by individuals giving not only of their time, but at their expense. Please reconsider the idea of making a decision that could impact the fees that are charged for domains listed as .org. Sincerely, Charles L. Bracken Sent from Mail for Windows 10

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Tyler Sommer April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I am the registrant of several not-for-profit .org domains, and I think its important to understand whom these policies will affect. I've read about a lot of bad decisions under the UDRP. The URS seems even worse. I heard the URS is very new and is being reviewed now to see if it is working properly. It is too soon to include an untested policy on .org domains where for a few hundred dollars anyone could try to shut down someone else's website. Telling the .org registry that it can charge any price it wants for renewing a domain name is a terrible idea. Why would you allow them to set a crazy high price? They could try to force the domain owners to pay a very high price each year to renew their domain name, and if the domain owner either won't or can't, then the .org registry could take away their domain name, set a high registration price on it, and then try to find someone else who is willing to pay a high price for it. This is very unfair to long time .org domain owners who may see their prices raised sky high for no reason. You let the new domain extensions charge any price they want, but that hasn't gone so well. Lots of people got burned when the new registries offered low rates for the first year, and then after people registered the domain names and some built web sites on them, some of the prices were raised through the roof. .Org has been working just fine for decades where the prices maybe go up a little bit each year. Allowing huge price increases from one year to the next could ruin .org for everybody. I think you should pay a little more attention to what is good for the owners of .org domain names. The registries are doing fine. They don't need your help as they are already making plenty of money. Thank you for your consideration. Signed, Tyler Sommer

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