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

[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Unlimited price raising on .org domain names considered harmful
by Greg White April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Allowing unrestricted price raises on a unique and scarce resource that's incredibly cheap to operate is either incredibly shortsighted or a disgusting money-grab on non-profit organizations. It's not like an organization that's been around for a long time (in internet terms), like wwf.org, can just pick up and move to wwf.com at no cost. That's their brand, and it's associated with them. Allowing the registry to raise prices in an unrestrained fashion will strip cash from the larger organizations, and knock the poorer ones completely offline, and allow opportunistic squatting on their old high-traffic domain name. Indeed, given that an exclusive license like this is literally a license to print money, I am of the strong opinion that the two registry agreements should be more in harmony - by including the .org price restriction language in all the legacy domain name registry agreements, where there is likely to be a significant sunk cost (.com and .net) - or even inclusion in the base registry agreement. Yours Truly, -- Greg White

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Really bad idea for non-profits
by Keith (Opa) Eckhardt April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I’m involved with five non-profits. The one I manage has no paid employees and our only society expenses pay for domain names, website space, state fees, IRS fees, insurance and limited office supplies. Every one of the five non-profits are focused on minimizing costs so that we can benefit those we help. By raising the fees for .ORG domain names it will reduce the money we have to support our many different community projects. There are many organizations who do their best to support non-profits to keep expenses as low as possible while you now propose to raise our fees. Take a look at companies like Donor Box, Genesis, Google G Suite, Tech Soup and Zapier, then try to explain why you have no interest in helping us. We are all about giving, but you now appear to be all about TAKING. I suggest that you live up to your name of ICANN or change to ICANT when you raise our fees. I’d love to have a guaranteed 10% raise in income every year. I encourage you to be extremely content with what you already have. Opa Keith Eckhardt Chief Executive Director, The Barbershop Hobby Singers Partnership https://www.bbshobby.org Barbershop Harmony is the cure for the common chord If you live without making a difference, what difference does it make that you have lived?

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

April 25, 2019

Dear Sirs, I hereby wand to manifest my complete disagreement with the proposed removal of the price cap provisions, which limited the price of registrations and allowable price increases for registrations. Not only this is a onerous action to be reflected on Registrants but it constitutes an abusive stance in regards to one of the more antique and known TLDs. It is this price cap that in fact has promoted the success of this TLD over the years, as it has happened with .COM and .NET TLDs. The lack of price cap is also one of the biggest problems and one of the ultimate reasons for the failure of the new gTLDs. The registry operators of these antique TLDs have enjoyed very good profit margins precisely from the success of these TLDs under this method. It has been a win-win situation for Registries and Registrants. Hoping that my voice as a public user will be taken into account. Regards, Antonio Vaz

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Keep prices capped
by Matt Misbach April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Registrars are maintaining a row in database. I think that's worth $10/year. We need to keep the internet accessible to all. DO NOT REMOVE PRICE CAPS! Matt

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Opposing the proposed removal of gTLD fee increase caps
by Rose Ziech April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

I'm writing to strongly oppose the proposed removal of gTLD fee increase caps for .org, .info, and .biz domains. Unlimited price increases on these TLDs will harm nonprofits and libraries working for the public. I manage .org and .info domains on behalf of public libraries in Wisconsin's South Central Library System. Access to affordably-priced domains remains important to being able to effectively provide library services. It is not realistic to go back to using the old .lib.wi.us domain names, which are clunky, error-prone, and hated by both librarians and the public. Library users know and trust libraries' .org and .info domain names. Higher prices and price fluctuation on .org and .info domains will siphon public libraries' and nonprofits' limited budget dollars away from providing materials and services to the public. Library service to the public should never be reduced simply to increase profits for the Public Interest Registry. I oppose removing price caps on .org, .info, and .biz top level domains. -- Rose Ziech Web Services Specialist South Central Library System http://www.scls.info/ rziech(a)scls.info

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

April 25, 2019

I respectfully make the following comments. 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] Do not raise prices
by Tamar Weinberg April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Please keep org prices the same. They have the power of time behind them unlike the newer TLDs and are not poor for cash. On the other hand, some of us using org domains for decades are organizations or charities who do not make lots of money. Thank you.

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Feedback on the .org agreement
by Jeff Cairns April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Thank you for the opportunity to submit a comment. I am a domain name registrant. Legacy gTLDs are fundamentally different from for-profit new gTLDs and should be treated that way. Legacy TLDs are what the internet was built on. They are essentially a public trust. They are very different than new gTLDs which were created, bought and paid for by private parties. Registrants of these legacy extensions should be entitled to price predictability & stability. Advancements in technology should be driving the cost of operating a registry down, yet prices keep going up? Removing price caps is unfair to the millions of domain registrants. They will have no price protections. Every registrant will be at the complete mercy and whims of the registry. This could result in a transfer of funds from millions of non-profits to one non-profit, with no benefits to the domain registrants. ICANN is supposed to represent a "bottom up, consensus-driven multistakeholder model". ICANN 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 should be looking out for the .org registrants, in particular the non-profits. There is no "public benefit" justification to these changes. It is just a handout to business at the expense of registrants’ rights and protections. Where are the protections for the millions of domain registrants that this could effect in a negative way? These changes would give way too much power to the registry. This is not acceptable for a "public benefit" organization that exists to represent many stakeholders.

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] .org should be affordable
by Elaina Michalski April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Good morning, I received and email message about proposed changes to .org pricing. Most often, a .org website is for a non-profit organization, in which many operate on a lower budget than other companies, because of the not-for-profit nature of the business and where they receive funds. This extension should stay affordable so that non-profits can continue to have web addresses at reasonable rates. Please take this into consideration. Thank you, Elaina Michalski

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Oppose price increases for .org
by redshift April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019

Please do not go forward with removing the cap on increases to .org prices. New TLDs have not been shown to have reasonable prices and we have no reason to believe opening existing ones like .org to a "fair market" will result in reasonable behavior. Tom Kirchner

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