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

[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposal to remove .org domain price caps
by John Rogers April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

Please reconsider the proposal to remove the price caps for .org domains. .org is the domain for non-profit organizations which generally have very limited budgets. Lifting the price control regulations will essentially allow a monopoly to control the .org domain market and allow them to charge whatever they wish. This can have a detrimental effect on vital communications with the non-profit organizations that our communities depend on. John Rogers

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Opposition to change in price regulations on .org domains
by Real People Press April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

Hello, ICANN’s current contract with Public Interest Registry (PIR) allows PIR to increase the wholesale price of .org domains by 10% a year. Now ICANN is proposing extending the contract to operate .org but letting PIR set whatever prices it wants. This could lead to PIR charging registrars like Namecheap 100 times as much. In turn, registrars would have no choice but to pass these charges on to customers. For small businesses like ours, that would be an incredible price hike that would eat away at our bottom line. Please reconsider this proposal, as it could hurt small businesses and non-profits around the world. Thanks, Duff McDuffee Office Manager Real People Press 303-442-2902 Free NLP Articles: http://www.realpeoplepress.com/blog <http://www.realpeoplepress.com/blog> Innovative NLP Trainings: http://www.andreasnlptrainings.com/ <http://www.andreasnlptrainings.com/>

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Opposed
by Wray, Grant April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

We are a not for profit medical research organisation and any increase in registration fees will impact our ability to do our research with full and open public engagement and transparency. Sent from my iOS device

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Jenni Graham April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

I am a domain name registrant. ICANN appears to be catering to registries by removing price caps. ICANN should stand up for the public interest and registrants. 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.

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Lakota Lustig April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

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 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] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Jess April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

I am a .org registrant (non-profit). 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. Sent from my iPhone

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Price Cap
by TOMCC Admin and Memberships April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

Hi. The Triumph Owners’ Motor Cycle Club is a not-for-profit international organisation that has invested a considerable amount of time from its volunteers to build up the reputation and visibility of the tomcc.org domain worldwide. As a not-for-profit organisation we can’t afford the potentially substantial increases in domain name costs if the existing price cap were to be removed. If the price cap were to be removed and the domain name prices increase substantially then we would be forced to switch to a different domain name at the cost of all the time and effort our volunteers have put in. We are not a commercial company and operate to bring likeminded individuals together on behalf of our Members. We specifically chose tomcc.org because we were (and still are) a worldwide not-for-profit organisation Regards, Laurence Mee TOMCC Webmaster / Vice President

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by jjdoyle＠btinternet.com April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

I am a .org 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. John Doyle

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Kayla April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

I am a .org registrant (not-for-profit). 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] Please do not lift caps on price increases for .org domains
by Matthew Boomhower April 26, 2019

April 26, 2019

Good day. Non-profits and private citizens hoping to advance positive social causes who register .org domains will be harmed by the proposed deregulation of price increases. This will limit the power of the internet to facilitate communication to advance positive social change and empower the individual to have a voice on the global stage. It's frightening to think that such a powerful platform for democratization of communication could be eroded by allowing for unregulated 'pricing out' of non-profits and individuals by private interests. Despite the draw of capitalist success, we all have ethical and moral obligations to our fellow humans and need to draw the line somewhere. When the ability of the internet to act as an empowering social forum declines, other means will arise. We love the internet for what it is. An equalizer and amplifier of the individual voice.

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