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

[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Comment on proposed removal of pricing cap on .org domains
by Kevin Jackson March 28, 2019

March 28, 2019

I appreciate this is a complex and always moving industry - I have been a professional working in this field for 24 years, and have seen the evolution and blossom of a dynamic, market-driven and endlessly surprising ecosystem online. This proposal brings to mind the early days of only one registrar for the main TLDs - and how vulnerable we all were to their business practices. In my opinion opening that up to competition was a very good thing, and has partially contributed to where we are today. Having one company able to control pricing for an entire TLD, and to have no restrictions, controls or guidelines on their ability to increase the pricing: is in my opinion creating a monopoly, with all that implies - definitely counter to the idea of a free market. Especially in the area of .org, which is traditionally - and branded - to be the domain for not-for-profits, our main client base, and I know they are very sensitive to running costs and overhead. Regards, Kevin Jackson | Senior Partner | bizZone <http://www.bizzone.com/> bizzone.com | p: 905-927-0015 x221 | c: 416-995-1297

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Nancy Greenwald March 28, 2019

March 28, 2019

Wow. What a terrible idea. So many nonprofits serve valuable causes on small budgets and thin margins. Increasing the price to nonprofits would not only mean that small community nonprofits providing valuable services would no longer be able to afford their online identity. It also raises the question of who would buy those urls. The fraudulent, phishing opportunities become unlimited. Is there any justification for this change except greed? *Nancy Wiegers Greenwald* *Executive Director* Office: (860) 768-5696 Cell: (202) 603-5640 <http://construction.org/events/event_list.asp?show=&group=&start=7%2F2%2F20…> *Construction Institute <http://www.construction.org>* *University of Hartford* 260 Girard Avenue Hartford, CT 06105

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Price Caps for .org domains for non-profits
by Michael D'Angelo March 25, 2019

March 25, 2019

Ladies and Gentlemen of ICANN, Please add the voice of AICC, The Independent Packaging Association, to those against the removal of price caps for .org domain names for non-profits. As a smaller non-profit with revenues of less than $4Mio, there is not a lot of elasticity in our ability to absorb new cost. Losing the protection of a prudent policy such as the one maintained by ICANN for these many years can be a devastating blow to our organization. We already face many challenges in the market that we represent, consolidation (loss) of members being primary. Our ability to communicate with our members through our .org domain remains our most powerful tool in providing content to our remaining members. A dramatic increase in cost could impair that important ability. ICANN should see the protection of non-profits as part of the important role that it plays in the system if “unique identifiers” on the internet. Non-profit entities are not advantaged in their ability to communicate compared to for-profit corporations and entities because caps are in place. Rather, the caps protect the existence of non-profits, particularly smaller ones, of which there are many. Just as governmental units recognize and accommodate differences in non-profit and for-profit entities, so should ICANN in their management and pricing of domain names. Non-profits in general and non-profit trade associations in particular, play vital roles in their members’ businesses and markets. Most members are for profit entities that grow because of the work of their non-profit associations. A change in the current cap policy would change the equation for so many non-profits that there would be an adverse effect, not just at the association level but in the value chain of multiple businesses. Thank you for your kind consideration. Very truly yours, Michael D’Angelo Vice President AICC, The Independent Packaging Association mdangelo(a)aiccbox.org<mailto:mdangelo@aiccbox.org> (w) 703-5351386 Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] change in .org registration fees could drive nonprofits off the web
by Dawn Merritt March 25, 2019

March 25, 2019

I am writing to oppose lifting price caps on .org and .info domains. This change could lead to tax-exempt organizations paying thousands of dollars per year to maintain domain names, which would make it impossible for many community nonprofits to maintain a web presence. This would have a detrimental affect the public's ability to obtain information and services, and could put small nonprofit organizations out of business. Please reconsider this proposed change. Thank you. -- Dawn Merritt, Izaak Walton League of America

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement
by Clement Genty March 25, 2019

March 25, 2019

In 1985, the .ORG was created, paving the way for TLDs dedicated to non-commercial associations. If the registrar market can afford to be volatile because the end user will have the choice of provider, it is not the same for registries where perfect competition does not exist to the extent that only one seller exists, the registry. The lack of a framework for gTLD pricing policies has led to some disappointments, as evidenced by the reactions of registrars when Uniregistry significantly increased its prices on its extensions. Similarly, the « Dot Chinese Online » has increased its prices by 25 since 15 March 2019. The market is not ready for significant price fluctuations on underutilized TLDs. The .ORG, used by many non-profit organizations and individuals, is also not ready for such developments. An non-profit organization who has registered his domain name cannot tomorrow see a multiplication per cent of the selling price of his .ORG. While Europe is implementing a charter of good practices for online platforms, the "Platform to business" project, it would be interesting to develop such a policy for ICANN's gTLDs in order to frame tariff increases in an assessment to be defined. -------------------------------------- Clément GENTY Doctorant | PhD Candidate www.genty.info École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers 151 bd de l'Hôpital 75013 Paris

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[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] RE .org fees for domain registry
by Daren Coppock March 21, 2019

March 21, 2019

I'm writing to ask ICANN to reconsider removing the registration fee caps on .org domains. These domains are used by nonprofit trade associations and individual member associations as well as tax-exempt charities. Donors and members give us funds to accomplish our nonprofit missions, and while they understand there are essential operating costs, the idea of turning domain registries into a profit stream at our expense would not be well received. For an organization of our size (less than $5 million revenue) the proposed registry fixed fee of $6250 per quarter ($25,000 per year) would be a material hit on our budget. The current arrangements have worked well - please don't allow nonprofit organization to be subjected to this usurious fee increase. -- Daren Coppock President & CEO Agricultural Retailers Association Suppliers to America's Farmers 1156 15th Street, NW | Suite 500 | Washington, D.C. 20005 Direct: 202.595.1724 | Main: 202.457.0825 | Fax: 202.457.0864 dcoppock(a)aradc.org<mailto:dcoppock@aradc.org> www.aradc.org<http://www.aradc.org/>

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