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

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

April 25, 2019

I am a domain name registrant. 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.

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Taking the caps of .org pricing is a horrible idea that will impact smaller non-profits that have low budgets
by Sam Stern April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Taking the caps of .org pricing is a horrible idea that will impact smaller non-profits that have low budgets . I work for a smaller non-profit with a tiny budget. The .org pricing is already pricy for us compared to the .com. But it is important for us to have the .org. As is for many smaller non-profits. - Sam

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

April 25, 2019

I am a domain name registrant. ICANN does not seem to recognize the difference between a legacy extension created with the support of the US government, that predates the existence of ICANN and that has millions of existing users and the brand new extensions that started off with a new set of rules, in particular no price controls, and no existing registrants. They have completely different characteristics, history, and ownership structure. It is not acceptable for ICANN to ignore these differences and to propose that they be treated the same. Removing price caps is not fair to .org domain owners. Many of them have websites that they have used for years. If price caps are removed, the cost to renew their domain names may become too expensive, and they could be forced to give up websites that are important to them. The Uniform Rapid Suspension policy is too new and untested to apply on domain names that may be 20 years old or more. With the URS, the domain names could be taken down in a matter of days with little notice. ICANN should be doing more to protect owners of .org domain names. Why is ICANN trying to remove price protections for .org domain owners, so many of which are non-profits, so that they can be overcharged for their domain names?

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Comment on proposed renewal of .org registry agreement
by Alan April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

.org's current maintainer, Public Interest Registry (PIR), held a contest in 2010 specifically to bring awareness to the use of the .org top-level domain (TLD) and explain the differences between .org and other TLDs like .com or .net. PIR itself is a non-profit. The current agreement appears to cap price increases for fees paid to PIR by registrars at 10%. While rates of inflation do vary across the world, the rate in Reston, VA (where PIR is located), does not appear to be more than a few percent and certainly does not approach the 10% cap. I think it would be helpful for ICANN to better explain the logic behind eliminating this consumer protection, as inflation and decreasing costs of technology do not seem to align with the intent of the .org registry. Lacking a clear explanation of the rationale behind such a decision, I strongly urge ICANN to reconsider, and drop the proposed elimination of the price increase cap. Thanks for your consideration. -- Alan

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposal to remove price increase cap for .org domains
by Fritz Knabe April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I am dismayed that ICANN is considering eliminating the cap on price increases for .org. The .org domain is distinguished by being one of the original TLDs, and commands recognition and understanding built up over decades as the home for non-profit and charitable organizations. There is no easy replacement for .org. Opening the door to unlimited price increases is shortsighted. It is a step away from the public trust invested in ICANN to properly manage this domain for the public good. Frederick Knabe

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Monopolies shouldn't be allowed in increase prices "at will"
by RJ Roy April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Some may call this a public utility, but it’s still a government controlled monopoly. Allowing a monopoly to raise it’s price “at will” is a violation of decency. In that customers don’t have a second option, the controlling organization has the responsibility to consider the interests of all concerned. Unless you’ve figured out a way to bring competition into this program, it’s your obligation to make sure the interest of both the provider and the customer is balanced. Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10

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

April 25, 2019

I am a domain name 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! --- Hendrik Visage HeViS.Co Systems Pty Ltd T/A Envisage Systems / Envisage Cloud Solutions +27-84-612-5345 or +27-21-945-1192 hvisage(a)envisage.co.za

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] TLD .Org, don't allow them to raise pricing
by Seer Snively April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Please do not let PIR raise the prices of .ORG domain names. It will not help the internet or ICANN in any way, and just pinch small organizations like mine. Thank you for listening. Seer Snively

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Opposition to Price Cap Removal
by Derek DeVries April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

To whom it may concern, I would like to express my objection to the proposed removal of the price cap for wholesale domain registrars like Public Interest Registry (PIR). The Internet is a utility, and given PIR's position as a natural monopoly, costs must be controlled by government oversight to protect citizens and businesses. Thank you. - Derek Derek DeVries Director Digital & Social Strategy Direct: 616.258.5782 Mobile: 616.723.1073 www.lambert.com<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lambert…> [signature_104015828]<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flambert.co…> 47 Commerce Ave Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Detroit | New York | PROI Worldwide Partner

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Limit price increases!
by Deb Tjoa April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Hello, I just learned that ICANN is proposing extending the contract to operate .org but letting PIR set whatever prices it wants. This could result in unchecked price increases that are passed through to the consumer. As someone who manages a .org site, such increases would cause us to shut our website down completely. We are a small nonprofit, hence the .org extension. We can't absorb such price increases. Even if we could, the donors would not want a large chunk of funds to suddenly be spent on more overhead. We are a PTA and likely would move all our pages to the school-offered hosting site, which is uglier and less flexible, never mind lacking any branding in the URL, but free. Our registrar and--in turn--ICANN and PIR, would lose our revenue altogether. Please reconsider this proposal and keep the 10% annual increase cap. Sincerely, Debra Tjoa -- Debra Tjoa VP Special Events Lakeshore Elementary PTA Parent of a fourth-grader and first-grader

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