Within Section 1 of the agreement, as part of Pricing for Domain Name Registrations and Registry Services (Section 2.10 of the .org renewal agreement), the prosed renewal seeks to remove price caps for .org domains. While the proposal suggests this is to “conform” the .org gTLD to current industry standards, this would have a chilling effect, long term, on the growth of the internet. Many open-source projects and communities use the .org gTLD to indicate a level of trustworthiness to their domains, but without a price cap, these domains could quickly become priced out of the hands of small groups or individuals. It would also set a precedent whereby the .com and .net gTLDs could soon follow, making the internet into a walled garden where only the rich are able to afford sites and the rest of the masses are left to either pay out the nose or not have websites.

Price caps for this foundational gTLD should remain in place permanently.

Mike Finkelstein Agency Lead Web Designer Indiana Department of Environmental Management Office of the Chief of Staff Creative Services 100 North Senate Ave Indianapolis, IN 46204 317-233-9336 800-451-6027 (toll free within Indiana)