Thank you, Carlton, for sending info on this topic again. As discussed earlier, because of unregulated registrars and large scale speculation, the current price-caps of Verisign do not benefit end-users at all. Of course, there is no doubt that Verisign is speaking for its own commercial interests. However, they are telling the truth, at least this time. As a matter of fact, I do not see ANY justification for the DNS industry's registry-registrar two-layered structure. It is well known that, the more layers, the more overhead. Thus, instead of preventing speculation and protecting end-users, this two-layered structure addes unnecessary overhead ending up higher prices for end-users. Also as discussed earlier, this structure has been in place for a long time, and is even within ICANN's Bylaw. However, if we cannot find an effective way of protecting end-users, there could be ways to do so within the framework of ICANN Bylaws. For example, ICANN could allow registries, e.g., Verisign, to increase there price to registrars by a certain percentage periodically while picking up service obligations to end-users. This will effectively "squeeze out" registrars and eventually merge the two layers into one. Furthermore, this will eventually reach a market equalibrim without speculation or overheads to end-users. Digging even deeper, the question is, who created and owns domain names? In previous discussions, I compared them with land. Land is not created by governments, but by Nature for all mankind. When people want to use land for themselves, initially they follow the rules of "finder, keeper" etc. by claiming ownership. From there on, land can be circulated according to market rules and regulations. In this process, governments merely play the role of a manager to keep land ownerships and usage in order. Similarly, domain names and any character strings are created by languages, just like addresses are created by the numerical system. Only when people want to use them, ownerships will be claimed by registrants. ICANN and the entire DNS industry never created them and do not own them, but only manage them to keep them in order. Fees are collected for their management just like property tax, instead of rent for landlords. As I see, this concept should be established among the DNS industry as well as within ICANN. Kaili ----- Original Message ----- From: Carlton Samuels To: CPWG ; lac-discuss-en@atlarge-lists.icann.org ; At-Large Worldwide Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2018 5:13 AM Subject: [At-Large] Registrants could save lots of money - Verisign Makesthe Case and breadcrumb the money trail..... http://www.circleid.com/posts/20181102_how_much_could_businesses_and_consume... -Carlton ============================== Carlton A Samuels Mobile: 876-818-1799 Strategy, Process, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround ============================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ At-Large mailing list At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org